“This really doesn’t make sense to me,” says Jenny (name changed by request), a rising senior at a Boston exam high school. “There are so many cannabis shops now all over the place. I’m too young for that, but I don’t want it. I don’t want pot or tobacco like my friends. Juul is convenient, affordable, and a better alternative to what my friends are doing. Why is it now being banned?”
Jenny, who asked her name to be withheld because she is under the age for vaping, says she is not an outlier when it comes to teens who vape. “I understand it’s not the healthiest thing for me to do,” she continued. “It just calms me down. I have a hard time concentrating and I like to vape while studying. I don’t do it in front of people who don’t like it.” When asked why she started vaping, Jenny said that cigarettes are just too expensive. She also hates how they discolor her teeth and affect her fingers. And the smell won’t come out of her hair or clothes.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned Juul e-cigarettes on June 22, 2022, saying that all of its products should be removed from shelves.
“Today’s action is further progress on the FDA’s commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said in the press release.
“The agency has dedicated significant resources to review products from the companies that account for most of the U.S. market,” he added. “We recognize these make up a significant part of the available products and many have played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping.”
How will this affect the current vapers if all Juul products are pulled from shelves? Many are asking who this ban will really benefit. The tobacco control community is split between fierce opponents and passionate advocates of the usage of electronic cigarettes with nicotine. Opponents note that vaping can become young people addicted to nicotine and may cause some of them to develop a dependence on cigarettes. They highlight evidence that suggests nicotine use among adolescents could impair their developing brains. Some people believe vaping poses significant health hazards, while others wonder if it helps people quit smoking. Meanwhile, supporters argue that vaping helps smokers stop and hold the view that it is far less harmful to users’ health than smoking. They note that smoking has rapidly decreased among young people amid the rise of e-cigarettes.
Juul started selling their products in 2015, and by 2017, it had become the most popular e-cigarette brand, garnering lots of media attention and criticism. In response to the FDA’s concern with their marketing toward young teenagers, they changed their marketing campaigns, removed non-tobacco and menthol flavors, and left social media. Congress also raised the legal age to purchase tobacco/vaping products to 21, which Juul supported.
And yet the FDA has ordered all Juul e-cigarette products off the market, which is partially related to the surge in teen vaping. However, the rates of teen vaping are actually declining–down from 27.5% of high school students in 2019 to only 11.3% in 2021. In a company statement in response to the FDA’s ban, it argued that the FDA issued the ban after “immense political pressure from Congress once it became politically convenient to blame [Juul] for youth vaping, even though several of its competitors now have a larger market share and much higher underage-use rates.”
Many ex-smokers are also coming forward to support Juul, saying that it helped them to quit smoking. It’s been proven that e-cigarettes are more effective than traditional, FDA-approved nicotine-replacement therapies at getting smokers to quit entirely. In its 125,000-page application to the FDA, Juul reminded the agency of more than 110 studies showing the benefits of e-cigarettes over traditional nicotine consumption. Also being one of the most appealing alternatives, Juul has played a part in helping many smokers make the switch to e-cigarettes.
Many believe that banning Juul will not only do little to help nicotine addictions nationwide but also harm ex-smokers who will turn back to cigarettes.
“I switched to Juul for harm reduction,” ex-smoker Kelly Maxwell said in an interview with The New York Post of saying goodbye to her beloved Natural American Spirit pack. “I have an addictive personality and I don’t do well with cold turkey quitting.” In fact, less than 5% of smokers who try to quit abruptly are successful. The sense of shame that results is “literally the kiss of death for any kind of behavior change.”
The company’s founders themselves worked to design an e-cigarette that could replace traditional cigarettes, designed to help smokers turn away from deadly burned cigarettes. Experts agree that although they would not recommend people without an existing nicotine addiction to start vaping, Juul’s products work well for smokers looking to quit, with many saying that the lower costs and high levels of nicotine helped them to make the switch from cigarettes and even to choose Juul over competing e-cigarette brands.
Fortunately for the company and for the people who rely on it, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted Juul’s request to delay the ban. However, the fate of Juul and its products is still uncertain, and they will have to wait until a future hearing for it to be confirmed.
In the meantime, Jenny from Boston exam high school has this to say about where she’s going now that Juul products will be out of reach:
“Look, I run track and I play flute and I used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a week. I did that for two years and it was doing major damage. I switched to using Juul products for the past year and at least it made me feel good. It wasn’t going to be forever. I was going to leave it but I wanted to leave on my own terms. Maybe I’ll try meditating or mountain hiking, but I doubt it. I’m an addict and they just took away the one option I knew would curb that addiction.”
