Addiction to JUUL^® E-Cigarettes

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Trustwell Law is accepting cases from people who have used JUUL e-cigarettes and are now addicted to nicotine. JUUL, as of early 2020 the largest manufacturer of e-cigarettes, made false claims about the safety of their products in their early advertising, and many took up vaping and are now addicted to nicotine as a result of using JUUL. While physical injuries such as a result of using JUUL. While physical injuries such as lung failure have dominated the news, addiction is a serious injury, too. People who have become addicted to nicotine having used JUUL products may be entitled to compensation.

If you or a loved one are addicted to JUUL e-cigarettes and want to file a lawsuit, contact us for a free consultation. Our attorneys have years of experience and a reputation for personalized, compassionate partnering with our clients. We also have access to the expertise, resources, and manpower to fully investigate your circumstances and get you the justice you deserve.

Call us at 800-796-1636 or submit your case details online. A member of our legal team will contact you shortly. You may be entitled to compensation.

JUUL Marketing

JUUL was founded in 2015, and especially in its early years, critics and government agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claim its marketing largely targeted teens and young people. Their ads featured young models socializing and dancing while holding the sleek, modern-looking devices, and in their early marketing they placed ads in such places as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Seventeen magazine. Their early marketing often made no reference to the company’s claimed benefit that e-cigarettes be used for quitting smoking traditional cigarettes. In addition, JUULs were available in flavors (which are now banned in prefilled pods) that many claim would be assumed to be attractive not to adults, but to children and teens.

JUUL marketed heavily on social media and at rock concerts. Their social media marketing fostered their posts being shared among teens and youth, adding in an element of free advertising, especially when social media influencers picked up and shared the posts. In addition, the company hosted events and parties that often featured youth-oriented bands and free samples and tastings of their products. JUUL became so popular that many young people began referring to vaping as “Juuling.”

In addition, JUUL’s early marketing campaigns claimed their products were “safer than cigarettes,” an unfounded claim that the FDA insisted they stop making, since the FDA had not tested their products.

Perhaps most importantly, JUUL did not always mention or emphasize that their products contain nicotine or that nicotine is a dangerous and exceedingly addictive drug. Many users, especially teens and young adults, have stated they were not even aware that JUUL e-cigarettes contained nicotine when they started vaping.

Nicotine—Highly Addictive

Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. It produces pleasurable physical and mood altering effects. It absorbs quickly into the blood and so is delivered to the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation. The effects also dissipate quickly, motivating the user to use more. This addictiveness and the fast dissipation make quitting use of nicotine extremely difficult. The body becomes addicted—and users become habituated to using more nicotine to replenish the physical and mind altering affects. So when they try to quit, the body craves nicotine strongly and at close and regular intervals, causing withdrawal symptoms that the body is used to the user addressing by having more nicotine. These symptoms include, in addition to simply craving more nicotine:

• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Difficulty concentrating
• Increased appetite

JUUL reports their pods contain two strengths of nicotine: 3 percent and 5 percent. The 5 percent pods contain as much nicotine as an entire pack of traditional cigarettes. However, at least one research study at the University of California, San Francisco, has found that JUUL products deliver significantly more nicotine to the bloodstream per puff than other e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.

As dangerous and unhealthy as nicotine is for all, it also poses particular risks for teens and younger people, because it:

• Correlates to later beginning to smoke cigarettes.
• Can harm adolescent brain development, affecting memory and attention.
• May predispose the adolescent brain to addiction to other drugs.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, testified to the DC Council that “We have kids who can’t sit in a classroom for 45 minutes without getting a puff. We have kids who are taking these products to bed with them because they’re so addicted.”

Young JUUL Users

Many teen and young adult JUUL users were not even aware that JUUL contains nicotine, and they also were not aware of all the associated dangers. They started vaping for many reasons—because it tasted good (in relation to flavored pods), because it was fun and “everyone was doing it,” because it seemed “cool.”

But those same teens and young people are now suffering with an addiction to nicotine—one of the most addictive drugs there is.