E-cigarette maker JUUL Labs will pay Indiana more than $15.7 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it knowingly sold its products to minors.
In a press release announcing the settlement, Indiana Attorney General Todd Lokita said, “The unreasonable endangerment of children is particularly disgusting and shameful.
“Fortunately, the money we collect from this settlement can be used to protect the same young people targeted by the unethical marketing tactics JUUL employs.”
According to Rokita’s office, funds from the settlement are intended to be used for prevention education and mitigation efforts related to Hoosier youth who use vaping devices.
As part of the agreement, JUUL has the option to pay approximately $16 million in fees over six to 10 years, with the total payout increasing the longer it takes to pay in full. However, if JUUL chooses her 10-year payment route, Indiana will receive more than $17 million of her from the company.
JUUL’s first installment of $1,478,665 is due December 31st, with additional payments made at the same times each year.
Indiana participated in multiple state investigations into the company’s activities in 2019. JUUL’s use of hashtags, employment of “influencers” with large youth followers, flavor options, and misleading language are “unfair, abusive, deceptive, and violate Indiana state rules.” It turned out that Fraudulent consumer sales. ”
The 2020 Indiana Youth Tobacco Study conducted by the Indiana Department of Health found a 400% increase in e-cigarette use among middle and high school students from 2012 to 2019.
The study found that 20% of high school students regularly use e-cigarette products. Shortly after the findings were released, Indiana law raised the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products to her 21. came into force.
a Trends of 2020 Rate of lung injury during use More than 2,800 people were hospitalized and 68 died as a result of e-cigarette or e-cigarette use. Six of them were for the Hoosiers. As of January 2020, nearly 52% of his patients hospitalized for EVALI ranged from he was 15 years old to he was 24 years old.
Indiana is one of 32 states participating in a large-scale lawsuit against JUUL, in which the company will pay a total of approximately $435 million.
Another part of the agreement is that JUUL will not use anyone under the age of 35 in marketing or social media advertising, disclose the amount of nicotine in its products in all advertising, and will not sell flavored products unless approved. to agree with Among others, the US Food and Drug Administration.
Sydney Byerly is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website run by journalism students at Franklin College.