Vaping occurs just about everywhere now. There are people doing it while driving, in restaurants, and at sports games. Unfortunately, they’re even doing it in schools. The sleek and easily concealed vaping device called Juul came out in 2017 and quickly rose in popularity. It became the hot new thing to do, with kids trading the device’s flavored pods at school and secretly vaping in the school bathrooms.
The device was created with the intention of helping adult smokers quit. However, it’s gotten into the hands of so many minors that a whole new generation of young people are getting hooked on nicotine unnecessarily, according to Fox Business .
At this point, the FDA believes that the amount of minors that are getting hooked on nicotine far outweighs any potential benefits yielded to adult smokers. They want to restrict the sales of Juul and have even talked about taking the flavored pods off the shelves altogether, as they tend to appeal to the younger generation.
Consumers need to be 18-years-old to buy the device itself or any of its products, and that age restriction will potentially be changed to 21-years-old in the future. Still, this rule will do little to prevent determined vapers from asking their older friends to buy the products for them, or simply using a fake ID at the time of purchase.
JUUL Vaping Lawsuit Claims Teen Became Hooked Due to Deceptive Marketing Targeting Children https://t.co/Hi1mzT93A4
— AboutLawsuits.com (@AboutLawsuits) July 30, 2019
Juul is under fire for allegedly using marketing that specifically targets minors. Recently, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced a lawsuit against the company for using planned measures and misleading marketing to get minors to buy their products. This allegation comes in part due to the flavored pods themselves, each one with a fun and exciting title.
Crème Brulée, Cool Cucumber, and Fruit Medley are just a few of the popular flavors that kids can’t get enough of. Keep in mind that each pod contains the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes, thus explaining how young people are getting addicted so quickly.
Still, Juul Labs CEO Kevin Burns claims they never did anything to target kids.
“First of all, I’d tell them that I’m sorry that their child’s using the product. It’s not intended for them. I hope there was nothing that we did that made it appealing to them. As a parent of a 16-year-old, I’m sorry for them, and I have empathy for them, in terms of what the challenges they’re going through.”