North country communities get JUUL settlement money

Jonathon Wheeler, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·2 min read

Jun. 21—WATERTOWN — North country agencies and governments will be receiving over $3 million from a $462 million multistate settlement from JUUL — the e-cigarette vaping company — for its role in the rise of underage e-cigarette use.

The announcement was made on Friday by state Attorney General Letitia James.

"JUUL intentionally used deceptive marketing to hook a generation of young people on their addictive products," James said in a news release.

In the tri-county area, Jefferson County will receive $531,347, Lewis County will receive $261,995 and St. Lawrence County will see $383,712.

Jefferson-Lewis-Oneida-Hamilton-Herkimer BOCES is set to get $368,831 and St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES will receive $232,633.

The different counties and BOCES that receive money must put it into five categories: public education to prevent e-cigarette use among young people; university-based anti-vaping programs in schools and the community; enforcement of vaping laws and regulation; research into e-cigarette use in young people and the effectiveness of anti-vaping programs.

"I'm pleased to see the North Country will receive over $3 million in the settlement with JUUL," Sen. Dan Stec — who represents the 45th senate district which includes part of St. Lawrence County — said in the news release. "This will go a long way towards educating young people on the dangers of e-cigarettes, helping them to see through misleading advertising and make informed decisions."

In addition to paying $112.7 million, JUUL must also refrain from marketing that targets youth, which includes anyone under 35 years old, in promotional material or funding, operate youth education/prevention campaigns or sponsor school related activities; limit the amount of retail and online purchases a person makes; do regular retail compliance checks at 5% of the state's retail stores that have been selling JUUL products for at least four years; they must treat synthetic nicotine as nicotine; refrain from giving free or normally priced JUUL pods as samples; excluding product placement in virtual reality systems; increase funding to a document depository by up to $5 million and adding millions of relevant documents to the depository to inform the public on how JUUL created a public health crisis.

In total, the state will receive $112.7 million as a result of the settlement.