BATON ROUGE – On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Landry announced that Louisiana 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.
“As a father, I am deeply troubled by the alarming number of middle school and high school students using e-cigarettes,” said General Landry. “As the Attorney General, I will continue to do all that I legally can to protect children and make our State safer.”
While traditional cigarette use has plummeted among youth – vaping is skyrocketing, undermining national progress towards reducing tobacco use. The National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control in 2019 found more than 5 million youth reported having used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days, up from 3.6 million just one year prior. It also found that 20.8% of high school students were vaping in 2018.
Among high school students in Louisiana, vaping increased by 1.5 times (8.3% to 12.3%) from 2015 to 2017 and nearly tripled (12.3% to 31.6%) from 2017 to 2019. And among middle school students in Louisiana, vaping increased 1.5 times (5.2% to 8.6%) from 2015 to 2017 and nearly doubled (8.6% to 15.4%) from 2017 to 2019. The most popular e-cigarette brand among youth who have ever tried e-cigarettes in Louisiana was JUUL.
