Opinion | Juul Says It Doesn’t Target Kids. But Its E-Cigarettes Pull Them In.

Over 3.6 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes last year, up by 1.5 million over 2017. The use of Juul, the most popular brand in the country, appears to have led this alarming increase among middle and high school students. This should not be a surprise.
The founders of Juul Labs say that their product is not intended for young people but was designed with the adult smoker in mind. “We want to be part of the solution to end combustible smoking, not part of a problem to attract youth, never smokers or former smokers to nicotine products,” the company says on its website.
That’s important, but it misses an essential point: Based on what we know about cigarettes, the unique design of Juul may make it easier for young people to use its product, which delivers high-nicotine vapor. This is known in public health circles as “facilitating initiation.” And that’s because the blueprint for that e-cigarette could easily have been taken straight out of the tobacco industry’s playbook.
The makers of Juul and other e-cigarettes are in the process of seeking approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to continue selling their products, as required by new federal regulations. To win the go-ahead as so-called new tobacco products, the e-cigarettes must “protect the public health.” If Juul’s design facilitates use by young nonsmokers, it will likely fail under that standard.