Touted as a means for adults to stop smoking conventional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes have become increasingly popular over the last several years Commonly referred to as ‘vaping’, a user inhales nicotine and numerous other chemicals through a battery-powered e-cigarette which heats the nicotine and other liquid chemicals contained in a pod or cartridge until it turns into a mist. JUUL is the most popular ‘e-cigarette’ manufacturer currently on the market, generating over $1billion in revenue in 2018 alone. JUUL is so popular that many young people have deemed use of the product ‘JUUL-ing’. However, what JUUL has touted as a safe smoking-cessation device has become an epidemic among today’s youth, particularly teens. From 2017 to 2018, e-cigarette use by high school students increased by 78%, to nearly 1 in 5 students. A 2017 study performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention found high schoolers and middle schoolers use e-cigarettes more than conventional ones.
A recent article by Jesse Pounds of the Greensboro News & Record highlighted the story of a 14 year old North Carolina teen who had to enter a rehabilitation facility – he was so addicted to nicotine he was ‘vaping’ the equivalent of 80 conventional cigarettes a day! In August the U.S. Food & Drug Aministration reported it was investigating 127 reports of seizures related to ‘vaping’ (“seizures have been reported as occurring after a few puffs or up to one day after use“).
Even more disturbing, as reported by the International Business Times, a recent U.S. Congressional report found that JUUL intentionally engaged in marketing campaigns in an attempt to “convey its messaging directly to teenage children”, and deleted the vast majority of its social media postings including more than 2,500 tweets and 400 posts to Instagram and Facebook:
Juul splurged on sponsorship events at schools, summer camps and police-run community camps where sessions were camouflaged with generic names like “holistic health education.”
In one case, the company paid $134,000 to host a five-week summer camp in Baltimore where even third graders were enrolled, the report said.
The Richmond Police Activities League was given $89,000 to support a youth program and $10,000 was spent on other schools for gaining access to students, according to the report.
According to the testimony of a 17-year-old boy, Juul representatives visited schools to tell students that using their product was “totally safe.”
Our firm is investigating cases where users of JUUL‘s products under the age of 25 have been diagnosed with the following health problems:
- Nicotine Addiction (despite not using conventional cigarettes).
- Heart Attack
- Stroke
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
- Bronchiolitis Obliterans (“Popcorn Lung“)
- Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis (a rare immune system disorder that affects the lungs).
- Eosinophilic Pneumonia.
- Injuries from a JUUL device battery explosion or fire.
If you are or know someone under the age of 25 who has used JUUL vaping products and developed any of these medical problems, contact us online or call 1-866-252-3535.