A spate of Juul users and their families are suing the e-cigarette’s maker for getting them addicted to the high doses of nicotine the trendy device delivers.
Three lawsuits have been filed against against Juul Labs, involving plaintiffs as young as 15.
The Food and Drug Administration has been investigating Juul Labs and the nicotine content of its devices and warns that while the device could help current smokers cut back, it may pose serious addiction risks to new, young users.
Court filings claim that Juul contains more nicotine than combustible cigarettes, is marketed directly to teenagers, and that addiction to the device is disrupting their lives.
The maker of the popular Juul e-cigarette is facing a series of lawsuits claiming that it has addicted teenagers to its products using high-nicotine ‘pods’ and targeted marketing (above)
The latest case was filed in New York in June on behalf of the mother of a teenage boy called ‘DP’ in the suit.
DP, then a 15-year-old high school freshman, took his first puff of a Juul last September and ‘quickly grew intensely addicted to nicotine,’ the complaint alleges.
According to the complaint, students at Rockland High School in New York routinely vaped in bathrooms where DP was regularly offered to take a hits from their Juuls.
The effects of nicotine addiction on DP’s life were apparently immediate and dramatic.
Irritability and anxiety are common symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, and they set in quickly for addicts like DP.
Within seconds of a drag of a cigarette or vape, the high peaks. Within another few seconds, it dissipates, meaning that short term withdrawals begin.
DP became ‘withdrawn, anxious, highly irritable and prone to angry outbursts’ and started struggling at school, the lawsuit claims.
Desperate to curb their son’s addiction and out-of-character behavior, DP’s parents took the door off his room, put locks on other rooms in the house, told his school he had to be accompanied to the bathroom to make sure he didn’t ‘Juul’ there and subjected him to regular urine tests to check for nicotine in his system.
‘Yet despite all these measures, DP is unable to stop JUULing,’ the complaint alleges.
‘Although DP has been able to refrain from Juul use for short periods, he feels what he refers to as “urges” return and become so powerful that he is unable to avoid Juuling even though it subjects him to disciplinary measures at home and at school.’
The filing – like the the other two lawsuits brought against Juul Labs in California – purports that the e-cigarettes are uniquely designed and marketed to deliver exceptionally high doses of nicotine in form that appeals to teenagers.
Included in the New York case filing is information from the patent for Juul pods demonstrating that the nicotine concentration in one is about 37 percent higher than what is delivered by a Pall Mall cigarette.
The latest lawsuit filed against Juul Labs includes a graph demonstrating that the company’s devices deliver a significantly higher concentration of nicotine salts (mixed with benzoic acid and labelled here as benzoate, shown in red) than Pall Mall cigarettes
‘As high as the reported nicotine dose reported for JUULpods is, the actual dose is likely far higher,’ the complaint says.
A study of four Juul pod flavors found that their formulas has nicotine salt contents as high as 6.2 percent, as opposed to the five percent the company advertises.
Its flavors, including mango and cucumber, may be additionally tantalizing to teens because they taste like ‘candy,’ the suit alleges.
Advertising campaigns for Juul have also come under scrutiny, and the lawsuit filed on behalf of DP’s mother includes images from Juul ads that feature bright, poppy colors and a girl who looks like she could herself be teenager holding the vape.
What’s more, packaging for the device and its pods does not include warnings, the lawsuit points out.
One of its headings makes a bold accusation against the e-cigarettes: ‘The Juul e-cigarettes’ candy-like flavors and youth-centric marketing efforts, coupled with defendants’ sales practices, have created a youth addiction crisis.’
‘As as proximate result of Defendants’ misconduct, D.P. is addicted to nicotine, putting him at serious risk for life-long health problems…Health risks aside, DP also faces a lifetime of economic losses needed to sustain a nicotine addiction for the remainder of his life,’ the suit goes on to claim.
Attorneys for DP’s mother are seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be paid to DP’s family by Juul and co-defendant Pax, another e-cigarette maker.