Hawaiʻi AG Joins Multistate JUUL Investigation

Clare Connors. Courtesy photo.

Hawaiʻi Attorney General Clare E. Connors today announced Hawaiʻi 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.

“The vaping epidemic in our schools has set back many of the health gains Hawaiʻi achieved in the wake of the tobacco war,” Connors said in a press release.

“The statistics for our state are staggering, and my department is working with other states and our local counterparts to investigate the role of JUUL Labs in purposefully targeting our youth and creating a devastating health threat to our community.”

While traditional cigarette use has plummeted among youth, health officials say vaping is skyrocketing. 2017 data from the Hawaiʻi School Health Survey and national surveys found that:

• 42.3 percent of Hawaii’s public high school students had used electronic vaping products.
• 27 percent of Hawaiʻi’s public middle school students had used electronic vaping products.
• 9 percent had first tried using electronic vaping products before the age of 13.
• In 2017, high school teens in Hawaiʻi were vaping at double the average rate nationally.