AG: Wisconsin to participate in multi-state investigation into JUUL

Metro Wire Staff

Attorney General Josh Kaul this week announced Wisconsin has joined 38 other states in a bipartisan investigation of JUUL Labs.

The coalition is investigating JUUL’s marketing and sales practices, including the “targeting of youth, claims regarding nicotine content, and statements regarding risks, safety and effectiveness as a smoking cessation device,” according to a news release from Kaul’s office.

“E-cigarette use has increased dramatically among young people in Wisconsin and nationally, and we must act to reduce it,” Kaul said in his news release. “JUUL has been the driving force behind this increase, and we are working with a bipartisan group of AGs to investigate JUUL’s sales and marketing practices.”

While traditional cigarette use has plummeted among youth, vaping is skyrocketing. Between 2014 and 2018, the Youth Tobacco Survey found that the share of Wisconsin high schoolers smoking cigarettes had dropped from 10.7 to 4.7 percent. During that same time, the share of Wisconsin high schoolers vaping e-cigarettes increased from 7.9 to 20.1 percent—or one out of every five students.

Wisconsin youth’s rate of nicotine use is consistent with the national average of 20.8 percent of high schoolers vaping e-cigarettes in 2018, the release said. The National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control found 20.8 percent of high school students were vaping in 2018.