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NPR
School Districts Sue Juul, Saying Student Vaping Drains Resources
Elle Moxley
October 9, 2019
Schools across the country are so fed up with students vaping on campus
that they're suing the e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs.
Multiple districts filed lawsuits on Monday, including school systems
in Olathe, Kan.; St. Charles, Mo.; Long Island, N.Y.; and La Conner,
Wash. Three of those suits charge that Juul has hooked a generation of
young smokers with its sweet flavors, placing a burden on schools.
"You can't tell me that having flavors like bubblegum and grape is not
trying to entice our kids to do something they know is unhealthy," said
Shannon Wickliffe, the president of the Olathe Public Schools Board of
Education. "I understand it as a business strategy, but I think it's
kind of disgusting that you would try to addict our children knowing
the health consequences."
In a statement, Juul officials said they have never marketed to kids
and have taken steps to limit access to products for anyone under 21.
The lawsuits come as the number of patients with vaping-related
illnesses continues to climb and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention has intensified its warnings about the risks of vaping.
The number of youth smokers has also been increasing. The CDC estimates
that the number of middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes
rose by more than 50% from 2017 to 2018 — from 2.1 million to 3.6
million.
Kirk Goza, a lawyer for Olathe Public Schools and two other school
districts suing Juul, told member station KCUR in an email that because
vape pens are easy to conceal, students often bring them to school,
only to get caught vaping in the bathrooms.
"Schools have been forced to install special sensors in bathrooms,
remove bathroom doors, ban flash drives, hire more staff and provide
programs to help students deal with nicotine addiction," Goza said.
"This does not take into account the institutional energy spent
monitoring and enforcing policies to try and deal with the problem."
Olathe is seeking unspecified damages for the costs it has incurred trying to combat vaping in schools.
It's not just middle and high school students vaping in Olathe, said
John Allison, the superintendent there — the youngest Olathe student to
get caught with a vape pen was in fourth grade. Allison said more often
than not, parents know their children are smoking e-cigarettes and many
even purchased the devices that are confiscated at school. One parent
even called Allison to ask for the vape pen back.
"The parent was very upset because they had purchased it for their
student, who — they felt it helped calm them down. They couldn't
understand why we were concerned," Allison said. "I had to educate
them. It contains nicotine. It's dangerous. It's addictive. And they
were mortified."
If the school district is able to recoup anything from Juul, Allison
said, he would like to see it go toward smoking-cessation classes for
students who need help quitting e-cigarettes.
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