NORTH CAROLINA v. JUUL LABS, INC.
Superior Court of Durham County

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
Nicotine, which is highly addictive, is a neurotoxin — meaning it is
poisonous to the human brain. The brains of teenagers are particularly
vulnerable to nicotine and have what one study describes as “exquisite
sensitivity” to nicotine’s neurotoxic effects. Even small and brief exposures to
nicotine can cause lasting neurobehavioral damage in adolescents.1 When a
teenager gets addicted to nicotine, it makes it much more likely that he or
she will later become a user of traditional cigarettes or illegal drugs.2
Distributing e-cigarettes to minors is illegal in North Carolina and
most other states.3 Despite that, within the past year, use of e-cigarettes has
increased among high-schoolers by 78%, and among middle-schoolers by 48%.

Yael Abreu-Villaça, et al., Nicotine is a neurotoxin in the adolescent brain: critical
periods, patterns of exposure, regional selectivity, and dose thresholds for
macromolecular alterations, 979 Brain Research 114-28 (July 25, 2003),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12850578.
1

U.S. Department of Health, and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease, Prevention and Health Promotion, Office
on Smoking and Health, E-Cigarette Use Among Youth And Young Adults: A Report of
the Surgeon General — Executive Summary (2016), https://ecigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/documents/2016_SGR_Exec_Summ_508.pdf.
2

North Carolina law makes it illegal to “distribute, or aid, assist, or abet any other
person in distributing” electronic cigarettes to minors. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-313(b).
3

 In 2017, in North Carolina, nearly 17% of all high school students—and more
than 5% of all middle-schoolers—reported using an e-cigarette within the
previous 30 days.4 National studies show that the situation got even worse
during 2018, with “alarming increases” in reported tobacco use among both
middle and high school students between 2017 and 2018, primarily because
of an increase in e-cigarette use.5 Both the U.S. Surgeon General and the
federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner have described
underage use of e-cigarettes as an “epidemic.”6
JUUL has played a central role in fostering the epidemic of e-cigarette
use among youth. Over the past year, JUUL’s share of the e-cigarette market
has risen from 24% to 75%,7 and its brand name is so well-known that it has
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health,
Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey
Middle & High School Fact Sheet (2017),
https://www.tobaccopreventionandcontrol.ncdhhs.gov/data/yts/docs/2017-YTSFactSheet-FINAL.pdf.
5 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Youth Tobacco Use: Results from the National
Youth Tobacco Survey (2018), https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-andtobacco/youth-tobacco-use-results-national-youth-tobacco-survey (content current as
of June 6, 2018).
6 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA News Release: FDA takes new steps to
address epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, including a historic action against more
than 1,300 retailers and 5 major manufacturers for their roles perpetuating youth
access (Sept. 12, 2018),
www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm620184.htm; see
also U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service,
Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth (Dec. 18, 2018),
https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/documents/surgeon-generals-advisory-on-ecigarette-use-among-youth-2018.pdf.
7 Truth Initiative, Behind the Explosive Growth of JUUL (Jan. 3, 2019),
https://truthinitiative.org/news/behind-explosive-growth-juul.
4

 become a verb (i.e., “Juuling,” also known as “vaping,” means to use an ecigarette).
JUUL has long claimed that its e-cigarettes are intended only for adult
smokers seeking to transition away from traditional cigarettes, even though
it has not sought nor has the FDA granted a designation as an approved
smoking cessation device. But the facts tell a very different — and sobering
— story: teens aged 15 to 17 are far more likely to use JUUL than JUUL’s
supposed target demographic of 25- to 34-year-olds.8
It is no accident that JUUL has achieved such striking success in
attracting underage users. JUUL’s popularity among teens is the predictable
result of JUUL’s youth-focused business strategy. That strategy drove the
development and design of JUUL’s products, the ways in which they were
marketed, and their methods of delivery.
In developing its e-cigarette products, JUUL deliberately designed the
flavors, the look, and even the chemical composition of the e-cigarettes to
appeal to youthful audiences, including minors. Belying its claimed
“corporate mission” of helping experienced smokers wean themselves from
traditional cigarettes, JUUL developed dessert- and fruit-like flavors

Truth Initiative, The Youth E-Cigarette Epidemic: 5 Important Things to Know
(Nov. 14, 2018), https://truthinitiative.org/news/youth-e-cigarette-epidemic-5important-things-to-know.
8

 calculated to introduce tobacco in an appealing way to non-smokers,
especially young people. To further ease new smokers into the habit, JUUL
manipulated the chemical content of its e-cigarettes to make the vapor less
harsh on the throats of young and inexperienced smokers. JUUL also created
a sleek design for its smoking device that it knew would be attractive to
young people, in part because it is easily concealable.
JUUL’s focus on youth is also evident in its marketing. JUUL has
consciously chosen social media platforms and marketing channels that are
known to attract minors, has used models who look like teenagers or very
young adults, and has sought out and paid youth-oriented sponsors and
“influencers” popular among teenagers to spread the popularity of JUUL’s
youth-focused brand identity among the young.
After knowingly creating an e-cigarette product that appeals to minors
and knowingly marketing that product in a way that attracts minors, JUUL
pursued a sales strategy with a strong emphasis on internet-based sales,
where the seller does not typically see the customer face-to-face and cannot
directly confirm her age. In selling e-cigarettes online, JUUL has relied on
age-verification techniques that it knows are ineffective, and has been slow to
change its techniques, despite evidence that they are not working, in an effort
to avoid creating “friction” with customers. In some instances, JUUL’s
management has encouraged its employees to actively avoid “digging around”

 to ensure that underage users were not purchasing JUUL products. Because
of JUUL’s lackadaisical—and, at times, willfully blind—approach to age
verification, enormous numbers of underage users have easily obtained
JUUL products, often simply by ordering them online.
In a remarkably short span of time, JUUL has marketed, sold, and
delivered millions of e-cigarette products to minors, helping reverse the
historic decline in teen tobacco use that had occurred over the previous two
decades. From 2000 to 2017, cigarette use among teens dropped from 28% to
just above 5%.9 But in 2018, due in large part to JUUL, there were 1.5
million new underage e-cigarette users.10 Now, 27.1% of high school students
and 7.2% of middle school students use tobacco products.11

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health,
Adolescents and Tobacco: Trends (2018), https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescentdevelopment/substance-use/drugs/tobacco/trends/index.html (content current as of
May 1, 2019).
10 A. LaVito, CDC blames spike in teen tobacco use on vaping, popularity of Juul,
CNBC (Feb. 11, 2019), https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/e-cigarettes-singlehandedly-drives-spike-in-teen-tobacco-use-cdc.html.
11 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey Finds
Cause for Concern (Nov. 2018) https://www.fda.gov/media/120063/download.
9

 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey12

At the same time JUUL has pursued a youth-focused business strategy,
it has also routinely understated the strength of the nicotine in its products
and downplayed their health risks. JUUL entered the e-cigarette market
with among the highest nicotine potency of any product, a nicotine level so
high that, in some countries, it is illegal for consumers of any age. JUUL has
deceived consumers about that nicotine strength, has misrepresented the
nicotine equivalency of its products to traditional cigarettes, and has
understated the risks of addiction that occur with such powerful levels of
nicotine.
JUUL’s actions—designing, marketing, and selling e-cigarettes in ways
that it knows will attract minors and deceptively downplaying the potency
and danger of the nicotine in its e-cigarettes—are unfair, deceptive, and

12

Id.

 illegal under North Carolina law. JUUL has harmed consumers throughout
this State. The Attorney General brings this action on behalf of the State in
an effort to put a stop to JUUL’s wrongful actions and to hold JUUL
accountable for them.
REQUEST FOR RELIEF
The State requests that the Court:
1. Preliminarily and permanently enjoin JUUL, its officers, directors,
employees, and agents, and all those acting in concert with them, as
follows:
a. JUUL shall not offer, sell, deliver, or in any manner
provide e-cigarette products to minors within this State.
b. JUUL shall not facilitate, assist, or enable any individual
or entity in offering, selling, delivering, or in any manner
providing e-cigarette products to minors within this
State.
c. JUUL shall not offer, sell, deliver, or in any manner
provide e-cigarette products within this State in any
flavors other than tobacco or menthol through online
sales.
d. JUUL shall not facilitate, assist, or enable any individual
or entity in offering, selling, delivering, or in any manner

 providing e-cigarette products within this State in any
flavors other than tobacco or menthol through online
sales.
e. JUUL shall not engage in or participate in any marketing
or advertising activities within this State, including on
social media accessed within this State, involving ecigarette products that are intended to or are known to be
likely to appeal to minors, nor shall JUUL retain,
facilitate, assist, enable, or encourage any other person or
entity to engage or participate in such marketing or
advertising activities within this State. Accordingly,
JUUL, without limitation, shall not:
i. Send marketing emails to any minors within this
State;
ii. Advertise outdoors (including window
advertisement visible from the street or sidewalk)
within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds in
North Carolina;
iii. Sponsor sports, entertainment, or charity events
held in North Carolina;
iv. Provide free or discounted samples, starter kits, or

 e-cigarette products to consumers. In addition,
JUUL may not provide automatic renewals or bulk
orders to recipients less than 18 years of age;
v. Advertise in any fashion in media or outlets that
primarily target or serve consumers under 30 years
of age.
f. Within 30 days of entry of this order, JUUL shall produce
to the State a confidential database containing all
customer-related information, including but not limited to
names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers,
and any other information in JUUL’s possession
regarding any individual consumer that is under age 18
or that JUUL is unable to confirm is at least 18 years of
age. Within 10 days of providing such information to the
State, JUUL shall permanently delete all such
information in its possession, including but not limited to
all account information on JUUL’s website and inclusion
of such individuals on JUUL’s email marketing lists.
g. JUUL shall not offer, sell, deliver, or in any manner
provide e-cigarette products within this State that describe
the nicotine potency of such products as calculated by

 weight rather than by volume, or in a manner that
misrepresents the nicotine potency of e-cigarette products
as compared to combustible cigarettes.
h. JUUL shall not facilitate, assist, or enable any individual
or entity in offering, selling, delivering, or in any manner
providing e-cigarette products within this State that
describe the nicotine potency of such products as
calculated by weight rather than by volume or that
misrepresents the nicotine potency of e-cigarette products
as compared to combustible cigarettes.
2.

Award civil penalties to the State from JUUL pursuant to

N.C.G.S. § 75-15.2;
3.

Disgorge JUUL’s profits from its unfair or deceptive acts and

practices to the State;
4.

Award the State its costs, including a reasonable attorneys’ fee,

incurred by the investigation and litigation of this matter pursuant to
N.C.G.S. § 75-16.1; and
5.

Any and all further legal and equitable relief as the Court

deems the State is entitled to receive.