Settlement With Juul Labs a Win for the Health of CNY Youth

Syracuse, NY – St. Joseph’s Health applauds New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ announcement that New York reached a landmark legal settlement with Juul Labs Inc. and its former directors and executives for their alleged role in contributing to the youth vaping epidemic that led to an exponential increase in underage e-cigarette vaping.

“A report from the NYS Youth Tobacco Survey (NYSYTS) found that between 2014 and 2018 cigarette smoking among high school youth declined by 82% while the use of e-cigarettes increased 160%,” said Kristen Richardson, Director of the CNY Regional Center for Tobacco Health Systems at St. Joseph’s Health. “We are proud to have been a part of the effort to bring about this much needed effort to protect our youth.”

As part of the $462 Million multistate agreement, the settlement includes the following stipulations requiring JUUL to:

• Refrain from any marketing that directly or indirectly targets youth, including using anyone under the age of 35 in promotional material or funding, operating youth education/prevention campaigns, or sponsoring school related activities,
• Limit the amount of retail and online purchases an individual can make,
• Perform regular retail compliance checks at five percent of New York’s retail stores that sell JUUL’s products for at least four years,
• Treat synthetic nicotine as nicotine,
• Refrain from providing free or nominally priced JUUL pods as samples to consumers,
• Exclude product placement in virtual reality systems, and
• Increase funding to a document depository by up to $5 million and add millions of relevant documents to the depository to inform the public on how JUUL created a public health crisis.

“Quitting e-cigarettes can be as challenging as quitting smoking traditional cigarettes but users can increase their chances of success with help. When smokers or those who vape, team up with their healthcare provider, long-term quit rates more than double,” said Richardson.

While there is reason to celebrate this win for all NYS youth, the team of dedicated health care professionals at the CNY Regional Center for Tobacco Health Systems at St. Joseph’s Health will continue to work with medical and behavioral health systems throughout the area to establish system-wide policies to screen for and treat tobacco dependence. New York State communities are still experiencing tremendous tobacco-related unmet needs. The fight is not yet over; tobacco is still taking lives.

There are many programs in CNY that can assist tobacco users with quitting. For help quitting, the Central New York Regional Center for Tobacco Health Systems at St. Joseph’s Health encourages smokers to:

• Discuss quitting with your doctor
• New Yorkers aged 13 to 24 who want to stop vaping can enroll in the free and anonymous text messaging program by texting "DropTheVape" to 88709.
• Enrollees in the program receive interactive daily text messages tailored to their sign-up date or their target quit date, should they choose to set one. Messages include encouragement, motivation, tips, skill, and self-efficacy building exercises, and coping strategies.
• New Yorkers of all ages can contact the New York State Smokers' Quitline at 1-866-NYQUITS (1-866-697-8487) or visit http://www.nysmokefree.com for free and confidential smoking and vaping quit services and to determine their eligibility to receive free starter kits of Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

 

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About St. Joseph’s Health

“St. Joseph’s Health is non-profit health care system based in Syracuse, NY. St. Joseph’s has been an innovative leader in health care since our founding in 1869 as the first hospital open to the public in the city of Syracuse. Offering primary, specialty and home care, a Magnet-recognized hospital, and collaboration with community partners, St. Joseph's Health advances the well-being of the communities we serve through an expanding range of services to ensure our patients achieve optimum long-term health. St. Joseph’s is one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery and one of America’s 100 Best for Spine Surgery and Coronary Intervention according to Healthgrades. It is ranked by Consumer Reports among the top 15 heart surgery centers in the country, a designated Stroke Center and a U.S. News “Best Regional Hospital.” St. Joseph’s Health is affiliated with St. Joseph’s Physicians, and is a member of Trinity Health.For more information, visit www.sjhsyr.org/legacy.” 

 

About Trinity Health

Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, Catholic health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 115,000 colleagues and nearly 26,000 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 25 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 88 hospitals, 131 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 125 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. Based in Livonia, Michigan, its annual operating revenue is $20.2 billion with $1.2 billion returned to its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs.