Juul agrees to $40 million settlement

The electronic cigarette company will financially support addiction recovery assistance and youth vaping research in North Carolina. As part of a $40 million settlement with the state, Juul also promised to stop all advertising, including on social media, to anyone younger than 21. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein sued Juul in 2019 for marketing to teenagers and giving misleading information about vaping products. Over-the-counter sellers in North Carolina must scan IDs, and Juul cannot claim vaping is safer than tobacco cigarettes. The company did not admit to wrongdoing.

Why is this important? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared an epidemic of underage vaping in 2018 and said the practice leads to nicotine addiction, which affects brain development. Teenage vaping rose by 70 percent after Juul started selling products in 2015. The settlement only affects marketing in North Carolina, but Juul also faces lawsuits and investigations across the country for personal injury and alleged deceptive marketing.

Dig deeper: Listen to Anna Johansen Brown’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast on the rise of vaping.