Last Saturday, the WV Legislature passed HB 5691, which appropriates $2.9 million from the JUUL Labs legal settlement to the WV Department of Health for tobacco prevention efforts in West Virginia!
PLEASE call Governor Morrisey and ask him to sign HB 5691 into law! His office number is (304) 558-2000. Why? West Virginia has been sitting on this settlement money for over 3 years! We are the last state to tap into this money to use it for youth tobacco prevention.
- JUUL intentionally marketed to and targeted e-cigarettes to youth
- Juul emerged in 2015 and used youthful influencers and models to promote their brand.
- In just 4 years, by 2019, 1 in 4 high school students was using e-cigarettes
- In 2023, 34 states reached a multistate settlement against JUUL and the funds were to be used to combat youth tobacco/E-cigarette use
- Over the next few years, West Virginia will up to $8 million for tobacco prevention efforts.
