County Wants Vape Companies To Fund Kids' Addiction Treatment

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Santa Cruz County has sued e-cigarette, or vape, manufacturers and blamed the companies for getting local youths hooked on nicotine.

The county claims in a 186-page lawsuit that JUUL Labs, America's largest vape manufacturer, and other vape companies played a role in the recent uptick of youth vaping and targeted young people with fruity flavors, a sleek product design and advertising featuring social media influencers and other scenes designed to appeal to young minds.

Santa Cruz County wants the vape companies to pay for prevention education and addiction treatment, according to the lawsuit. The county would like to hire more school health educators to raise awareness about vaping and cessation services, should more resources become available, according to the lawsuit.

Santa Cruz County also sued vape company Eonsmoke and Altria Group — the tobacco company and JUUL investor that owns brand such as Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA, Copenhagen maker U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, and vape company Nu Mark, which was also named in the lawsuit.

JUUL, Eonsmoke and Altria Group did not respond to requests for comment.

Students as young as fourth and fifth graders have been caught vaping in Santa Cruz County schools. Some students call bathrooms "JUUL lounge[s]," according to the lawsuit.

In 2017, about one in 20 Santa Cruz County 11th graders had used a vape in the past month, according to the lawsuit. In 2019, nearly one in five 11th graders said they had used a vape in the past month.

The county saw an increase in vape use among middle schoolers too. Three percent of seventh graders reported the same thing in 2017, and 10 percent reported current vape use in 2019, according to the lawsuit.

Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called youth vaping an epidemic.

The county, City of Santa Cruz, City of Watsonville and City of Capitola have passed bans to regulate the sale of flavored tobacco products.

The county said in the lawsuit that it "has been taking important steps to combat the youth vaping epidemic, but it cannot fully address the existing widespread use of vapor products and resulting nicotine addiction among youth."

Santa Cruz County Counsel and Seattle-based firm Keller Rohrback filed the lawsuit April 2 in the San Jose Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Keller Rohrback filed a class action lawsuit against JUUL and other vape companies on behalf of various school districts in late 2019.