Kennedy Fisher
Staff Writer
Juul Labs, the company that makes JUUL-branded electronic
cigarettes and flavor pods, is trying to put an end to the teen vaping
epidemic. Juul has decided to suspend their retail sales early Nov. 2018 and
social media promotions due to the teen vaping addiction problem. Juul is often
accused of marketing to appeal to teens which is why the government has been
putting pressure on them to suspend sales for a period of time. The FDA
threatened to shut Juul down in September if they didn't start preventing teens
from using their product. The FDA gave them a 60-day period which has now
ended, meaning more restrictions made by the FDA are in the near future. The
company will use an age verification system that requires buyers to enter their
social security number, address and birth date in efforts to keep teens from
juuling.
People
such as sophomore Chris Kolen are disgusted by this new trend. He went as far
to say: “Juul should be shut down. It's just not necessary and is unsafe.”
Freshman Kayci Lane adds: “It’s [vaping] terrible for your health and teens
need to cut it out.” These sentiments are arguably not the norm in teenagers,
especially in New Hope, but it is good to have people in the most vulnerable
age group fighting back against the vaping epidemic.
Since
flavors such as mango, fruit, creme, and cucumber are most attractive to teens
they will only be found online and discontinued from being sold in stores.
Other flavors like menthol, mint, and tobacco will be sold in stores for they
are the most helpful with the main focus of Juul's company: ending smoking. As
an added precaution, buyers must be over 21 to buy pods where the age
restriction used to be 18. It's still unclear when Juul will resume sales but,
hopefully, these actions will help to cut down the teen vaping epidemic.
