JUUL Labs has settled with several states after an investigation into its marketing and sales tactics to youth. Part of the settlement includes a $14.7 million allocation to Wisconsin, which will be spread out over a period of six to 10 years. The JUUL settlement dollars must be used to fund efforts to help people quit vaping—or never start.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Tobacco Prevention and Control Program is now using part of those funds to work with UW-CTRI to open a dialogue with young adults who vape.
“The people who began vaping due to marketing by JUUL and other vape companies are now young adults,” said project coordinator Karen Conner of UW-CTRI.
“This is a way to learn more about how they view vaping and what can be done to help them quit.”
Conner and the study team have reviewed current curricula used to address vaping prevention and treatment for individuals aged 18 to 24.
Dr. Jennifer Bird and Dr. Megan Piper led focus groups of young adults who vape. The project team considered the information gathered from those focus groups to help mold an expanded online survey to communicate with a larger group of young adults who vape, to invite their ideas on vaping and how to quit, where they can go for help quitting, and their thoughts on messaging about how to quit.
“We’ll also survey providers, college instructors, college health services workers, college counselors, technical school instructors, and technical school health services employees,” Conner said. “This survey will gather information about what the respondents know about vaping and what types of resources are out there to help young adults quit vaping. This will inform our future efforts to help people quit all tobacco products.”