The San Joaquin County district attorney said Thursday that her office is opening an investigation into e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, looking at whether the company improperly marketed e-cigarettes to teenagers.
San Joaquin County DA Investigating Juul Labs for Allegedly Marketing to Teens
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A man exhales smoke from a Juul Pod. (Eva Hambach/AFP/Getty Images)
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District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said Juul products have infiltrated Central Valley schools and that the investigation could result in civil or criminal lawsuits against the company. It is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to people under 21 years old.
"These companies come in and make billions and billions of dollars off our communities, and then walk away, leaving everybody else with the harm and the cost," Salazar told KQED. "Nobody comes to my county and hurts my kids without expecting a good fight from me."
Salazar said any funds gained from potential lawsuits would go toward rehabilitating youth who are addicted to nicotine.
The investigation comes a day after Juul Labs replaced their CEO and suspended e-cigarette advertising, and also days after federal prosecutors in California launched a criminal investigation into the company. The focus of that probe is unclear.
Juul did not immediately respond to a KQED request for comment.
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