JUUL to open new facility at RTP
E-cigarette maker JUUL plans to open a research facility in the Triangle in April 2022. A spokesman for the company said the building at Research Triangle Park will be used for scientific research, development and testing.
The new facility is expected to create 35 full-time jobs, according to the spokesman.
"We will continue to seek to earn the trust of key stakeholders, including local officials, as we advance the potential for harm reduction for adult smokers while combating underage usage," JUUL said in a statement.
In May 2019, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein filed a lawsuit against JUUL for designing and marketing its product to young people. North Carolina was the first state to take legal action against JUUL.
Stein contends JUUL downplayed the potency and danger of nicotine in its products.
JUUL agreed in June to pay pay North Carolina $40 million and adjust its sale and marketing strategies to settle the lawsuit.
Some of the conditions JUUL agreed to in the settlement included no use of social media advertising, no marketing that appeals to people under 21, no new flavors or nicotine content levels without U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization and no online sales to anyone not age-verified by an independent verification system and making sure third-party sales partners do the same.
The settlement will be paid to North Carolina over six years, and the money will be used for programs to help people quit e-cigarettes, prevent e-cigarette addiction and research e-cigarettes.
A lawsuit brought against JUUL by Wake County Public School System is currently ongoing. In July, school board members voted to sue the e-cigarette maker. The legal retainer that was approved stipulated that the school system would not pay anything out of pocket for the lawsuit; rather, the district would pay a 25%“contingency fee” of any settlement or monetary damages awarded as a result of the lawsuit -- meaning the board would not be out of money if the lawsuit was unsuccessful.
In 2020, e-cigarette usage decreased by 19.6% in high schoolers and among middle-schoolers by 4.7% according to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contends nicotine can harm adolescent brain development.
