Big Tobacco lies. So does Juul.
On June 25th, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously 11-0 to be the first city in the United States to end the sale of vaping products, including nicotine pods, e-liquids, and other electronic smoking devices that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
This includes Juul, the vastly popular vaping device that has led to an alarming uptick in youth nicotine addiction. Even the Surgeon General has called e-cigarette use an epidemic, and pointed out that one Juul pod has the same amount of nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes.
Juul’s pockets are lined by Altria (maker of Marlboro cigarettes) as an investor. And in typical Big Tobacco fashion, Juul has spared no expense to qualify a ballot initiative for November to overturn San Francisco’s recently passed legislation ending the sale of e-cigarettes.
Juul is calling its initiative “An Act to Prevent Youth Use of Vapor Products” and claims it will help protect kids. However, it would not only repeal the newly adopted law, but it would also overturn the law that ended the sale of flavored tobacco products—a law that was upheld last year as Prop E by 68% of San Francisco voters.
Not only that, the measure is preemptive–it would prevent the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from enacting any regulations on vaping products. Lies, confusion, repeals, and preemption—all are such familiar Big Tobacco tactics!
Why would Juul do this? The bottom line is that flavors are key to Juul’s appeal to youth. Reversing the city’s flavors law would allow tobacco companies to resume targeting and addicting people with flavored products—from Juul to menthol cigarettes.
As former City Attorney Louise Renne said in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Don’t be fooled by Juul.”
We quite agree.
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