La Conner Schools sues Juul Labs over teen vaping
The La Conner School District, an hour north of Seattle, is suing JUUL, saying the company has sparked an epidemic of vaping among school-kids.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, accuses JUUL and its parent company of marketing e-cigarettes to minors.
It says JUUL's actions will cause students to begin using e-cigarettes and become addicted.
“We’re tired of companies that just want to make money at children’s expense,” Superintendent Whitney Meissner told The Washington Post.
La Conner is a picturesque town across the Skagit River from the Swinomish Reservation, about an hour north of Seattle. Half the students are either Native American or Latino.
In the lawsuit, La Conner said that administrators and security officers now have to spend more time physically supervising students in the bathroom to ensure they are not using JUUL products.
"Security and administrative staff are also spending significantly more time addressing discipline problems related to JUUL use," the suit said.
The district is among four school districts nationwide announcing lawsuits. The others are in Kansas, New York state and Missouri.
KCUR public radio in Kansas City reported that JUUL officials said in a statement they've never marketed to kids and have taken steps to limit access to products for anyone under 21.
Meanwhile, Washington state's board of health is expected to place a ban on flavored e-cigarettes in a meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
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Gil Aegerter
Gil edits feature pieces and helps guide staff reporters through their stories. He previously served as interim digital director and online managing editor at KUOW. Before that he spent seven years with NBCNews.com, where he was variously a senior editor, editor-producer and features editor. He also worked 25 years as a newspaper editor in Anchorage, Alaska, San Diego, Wilmington, N.C., and Seattle. He also was a freelance researcher for NBC Olympics for the Games in Atlanta; Sydney, Australia; Salt Lake City; Athens; and Torino, Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, with a degree in photojournalism.
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