BATON ROUGE, LA – Attorney General Jeff Landry today announced that
Louisiana has joined a bipartisan, multistate investigation of JUUL Labs. The
39-state coalition is investigating JUUL’s marketing and sales practices –
including targeting of youth; claims regarding nicotine content; and statements
regarding risks, safety, and effectiveness as a smoking cessation device.
“As a father, I am deeply troubled by the alarming
number of middle school and high school students using e-cigarettes,” said
General Landry. “As the Attorney General, I will continue to do all that I
legally can to protect children and make our State safer.”
While traditional cigarette use has plummeted among
youth – vaping is skyrocketing, undermining national progress towards reducing tobacco
use. The National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control in 2019 found more
than 5 million youth reported having used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days,
up from 3.6 million just one year prior. It also found that 20.8% of high
school students were vaping in 2018.
Among high school students in Louisiana, vaping
increased by 1.5 times (8.3% to 12.3%) from 2015 to 2017 and nearly tripled
(12.3% to 31.6%) from 2017 to 2019. And among middle school students in
Louisiana, vaping increased 1.5 times (5.2% to 8.6%) from 2015 to 2017 and
nearly doubled (8.6% to 15.4%) from 2017 to 2019. The most popular e-cigarette
brand among youth who have ever tried e-cigarettes in Louisiana was JUUL.
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Last year, General Landry issued a Consumer Alert on the
Signs And Dangers Of Youth Vaping. He
continues to encourage all Louisiana parents and guardians to be aware of the
dangers of vaping and the signs to detect its use by our young people.