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United States Medicine The Courts

Juul Sued by California for Marketing E-Cigarettes To Teens (bloomberg.com) 68

Posted by msmash from the fighting-back dept.
Juul Labs was sued by California for allegedly targeting teenagers with ads for its e-cigarettes, after a series of lawsuits filed by schools, parents and others against the market leader as deaths and illnesses linked to vaping add up across the U.S. From a report: "Juul adopted the tobacco industry's infamous playbook, employing advertisements that had no regard for public health and searching out vulnerable targets," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who announced the lawsuit at a news conference Monday in Los Angeles. "Today we take legal action against the deceptive practices that Juul and the e-cigarette industry employ to lure our kids into their vaping web." The San Francisco-based e-cigarette company has become a target of government regulators attempting to stem an epidemic of new nicotine users who have flocked to the sleek device even though many have never smoked cigarettes. Becerra alleges that Juul targeted young people in its advertising, failed to include required warnings, knowingly delivered tobacco products to consumers without verifying their age, kept the personal e-mails of minors who tried and failed to make a purchase, and proceeded to market Juul to them.
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Juul Sued by California for Marketing E-Cigarettes To Teens More

Juul Sued by California for Marketing E-Cigarettes To Teens

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  • So I assume.. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by scubamage ( 727538 )
    ...we can expect to see court cases pending against Grey Goose, Absolut, Bacardi, et al for making vodkas and rums that are flavored with fruit, right? Since if the bar is "fruit flavors," that means those liqours are obviously being marketed to kids too. Oh, and don't forget every single fruit beer out there, that's totally being marketed towards children due to fruit flavors.
    • Yep! Damn commies!
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Except the constitution requires equal protection under the Law, so the state cannot prosecute one speeder but then let another speeder go.

        Any discretion the police claim they have is actually not a thing. The state does not have discretion in enforcing the law. We have an entire branch of government set aside to be the one with discretion.

        The state actually is required to prosecute a crime whenever it is seen, without discretion. The fact that they have ignored the alcohol industry for so long is a farce.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by Archangel Michael ( 180766 )

          They haven't ignored the alcohol industry for a long time, they've learned from their lesson during prohibition.

          The problem is that we've not learned that lesson.
          1) Free People will do what they want, regardless of what the law says.
          2) We shouldn't listen to tyrannical minority view points, just because the shout louder than the masses.
          3) California bans things that are inconsequential (plastic straws), while allowing for

      • Hint: if you get pulled over for speeding, that does not obligate the state to successfully catch and cite every single other person speeding anywhere.

        That is... absolutely nothing like the current situation. Speeding is objective. If the speed limit is 45 mph and you're going 70 mph, you are speeding, flat out, no argument.

        This is different because the lawsuit filers are making entirely subjective assumptions. "Fun flavors" == "just for kids."
        It's more like suing the makers of Deadpool for peddling sex and offensive behavior to kids because "super heroes are clearly for kids," regardless of whether the movie was Rated R.

    • Grey Goose, Absolut, Bacardi, et al for making vodkas and rums that are flavored with fruit

      they do it to: "Juul adopted the tobacco industry's infamous playbook, employing advertisements that had no regard for public health and searching out vulnerable targets,"?

      • Grey Goose, Absolut, Bacardi, et al for making vodkas and rums that are flavored with fruit

        they do it to: "Juul adopted the tobacco industry's infamous playbook, employing advertisements that had no regard for public health and searching out vulnerable targets,"?

        The total amount of physical harm that vaping has done to date amounts to what Big Tobacco kills before 9AM every fucking day.

        I'm not here to defend any nicotine product, but looking at vaping products from a holistic point of view, and considering they're marketed as a cigarette alternative, they certainly appear to be having regard for public health.

        Of course, once vaping products are banned by hysteria, and all the nicotine addicts are forced to pick up cancer sticks, we'll happily resume our regularly

        • they're marketed as a cigarette alternative

          it's the only alternative (as marketed), right?

          once vaping products are banned by hysteria, and all the nicotine addicts are forced to pick up cancer sticks

          Again, it's the only alternative?

          • they're marketed as a cigarette alternative

            it's the only alternative (as marketed), right?

            once vaping products are banned by hysteria, and all the nicotine addicts are forced to pick up cancer sticks

            Again, it's the only alternative?

            Show me a guy using the nicotine patch alternative, and I'll show you a guy about ready to overdose on nicotine patches. Cigarettes appear to be a lot like sex; there's nothing like the real thing.

            We both already know where the nicotine addicts created by vaping will end up; the same place the majority of cigarette smokers who tried every failed alternative.

          • they're marketed as a cigarette alternative

            it's the only alternative (as marketed), right?

            It is, by far, the most effective alternative.

            Patches have been around for decades, and have not put a dent in smoking. Vaping is helping WAY more people quit.

            Vaping still has the social and compulsive behavior of smoking. You can do it with your friends, and it keeps your hands busy.

            It also is easy to taper. Once you light a cigarette, you smoke it to the end. But you can flick on a vape device, take one puff, and then turn it off again. This makes it much easier to get only the minimum nicotine fix to

            • you know psychotherapy, right?

              • you know psychotherapy, right?

                Yes.

                I also know zero people that have used it to quit smoking.

                I know over a dozen that have used vaping to quit: My cousin. My neighbor. Most of the shipping and warehouse crew where I work.

                Vaping works. "Talk therapy" doesn't.

                • I also know zero people that have used it to quit smoking.

                  it's the exact opposite I've seem here on Brazil ("US" != "world", you know...)

                  Vaping works. "Talk therapy" doesn't.

                  not here (where you live, maybe...)

        • Vaping IS big tobacco!!

    • Four Loko, Smirnoff Ice, Mike's Hard Lemonade. etc. Yep.
    • Come on now. If you want to make fun of California for their stance on this you should just say that maybe the Juul executives should just start shooting up heroin and shitting on the sidewalks because then the authorities would ignore them.

      Also, how did you leave wine off of that list. That's basically alcoholic fruit juice! I understand that people want that juicy first post, but c'mon man, you gotta try a little bit harder. I'm pretty sure that the Yoda doll guy put in more of an effort.

  • scentes candles (Score:3, Insightful)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @03:40PM (#59427732) Homepage Journal

    All these candy and fruit flavored candles are targeted to kids and not 32 year old women.

    Adults hate chocolate and sweets. The dessert menu at the brew pub is covered in dust because nobody ordered the giant piece of cake for themselves that you're supposed to share.

  • vaping commercial product such as Juul sells is many times safer than smoking, if teens who think smoking is cool do that would have healthier lives.

    Remember, vaping commercial product is provably safe, while tobacco smoking kills 8 million a year.

  • Smokers suck!

    Sorry if you are a conscientious smoker but there seem to be far more of you that blow their toxic shit-air around with no regard for the people around them.

    E-cigs are so much more pleasant to be around. Go after the real cigarettes and let them be! Oh well if they hurt the people who CHOSE to consume them.

    It's too bad that one of their symptoms isn't sterility. Maybe in a few generations we could evolve into a species that doesn't get addicted to nicotine and finally be done with this nasty,

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • they do, but smoke gets _everywhere_. I bought an old shop car from my mechanic. Never smoked in but still had heavy odor. It's taken weeks of detailing and cleaning to get most of it out.

      Smoke clings to your clothing, your skin, to everything you own. Then as you move you shake it off and spread it everywhere. Do that enough and your entire environment is smoky.

      And no, smoking isn't hereditary. What's needed is education. Not "Smokin's bad, m'kay" kind of education but things like tuition free coll

  • The "they advertised to kids" thing keeps seeming odd to me since I haven't seen any ads at all (not that I'm a kid... just haven't seen ads?). Though everyone says the ads are that the vapes are candy flavored. Honestly the kids would probably vape if it tasted like flaming shit, if everyone told them it was cool.

    My wife is a teacher and it's always funny to hear about how many kids are "secretly vaping." They will lean down and vape in their backpack then zip it shut.... Over and over throughout clas

  • Lie! (Score:3)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @05:52PM (#59428266)

    >"as deaths and illnesses linked to vaping add up across the U.S."

    That is just a blatant lie which is extremely misleading and it needs to stop. The substances that were causing the incredibly [proportionally] tiny and isolated number of "deaths and illnesses" were not what anyone is selling at any even moderately reputable outlets, and certainly not by Juul. It is almost 100% certain they were all back-alley mystery concoctions of marijuana extracts laced with vitamin E acetate. It seems many government entities and the media are INTENTIONALLY trying to confuse the public on this very important difference.

    It probably is true that some minors are going after nicotine or non-nicotine vaping who have never used tobacco, but that is already ILLEGAL and is a totally separate issue (if it really even is a real issue, because we need to look at what underage cigarette smoking rates are and used to be, and right now they have been shrinking year after year).

  • Someone should tell the wine industry [thedarkener.com] then, too.

    I think it's hilarious that vaping is getting so much attention for supposedly marketing to kids when it's been going on everywhere else for forever.

  • Aboard the Death Star, the Emperor sits back.

    "Good...good. Let your hate flow through you. It was I who bought Juul. It was I who revealed the need for vaping regulation. It was I who co-opted the Truth cigarette people to spread FUD regarding vaping effects ["Fact! Nobody knows the long-term effects of vaping!")

    "It was I who ordered Juul to put up big scary signs in 7-11s and proudly announce the removal of Juul products from '97,000 traditional retailers'. It was I that convinced North Carolina, a to

  • Inhalation. Not revolutionary. What you inhale, be it tobacco burning in tubes, opium and coca in pipes, THC in black market vials or even prescription inhalers used by many, it's not exactly rocket surgery. People have been doing it for millennia.

    I'm not thinking it will be a successful thing for current government to control any more than others like digestion, but I'm sure that won't stop them from trying.

  • I wonder that advertisements for drugs are still allowed. It does not matter if it is for vaping, cigarettes, or alcohol. Nicotine and alcohol are dangerous drugs, and we all know about a case or two of severe addiction in our environment. They shall sell drugs only in special stores, and legalize all of them. Some drugs like entheogens (LSD, DMT, ...) are not addictive, but alcohol and nicotine are. Why can I buy a bottle of beer in a petrol station or supermarket? We have to change this to help the people

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