New York State Attorney General Letitia James visited PSLA at Fowler High School in Syracuse to announce a settlement with the e-cigarette company JUUL.
The multi-state settlement will bring in $462 million to fight vaping and e-cigarettes.
"JUUL, the largest e-cigarette company, intentionally marketed to our children, including on social media,” said James. “They got them addicted to e-cigarettes and caused irreparable harm to their bodies."
James said $4.7 million of the settlement money will go to combat youth vaping in central New York through education, prevention, research, and law enforcement programs.
Syracuse City School District Superintendent Anthony Davis said the fight against vaping is already starting in local schools.
“One of our buildings is piloting the detectors for vaping, which is helping us just detect what's happening in our buildings,” said Davis. “We're also working with Upstate Medical, along with Tobacco Free CNY."
Onondaga County Health Department officials said almost 19 percent of New York high school students reported being users of e-cigarettes. But County Executive Ryan McMahon said funding programs like Tobacco Free CNY will help fight the trends.
"Our greatest asset on this Earth is nothing material, it's time,” McMahon said. “And these products take away time, and they take away time from our second greatest asset, which is our young people."
James said, going forward, the settlement also prevents JUUL from directly targeting young people in its ads, funding or operating youth educational programs, or portraying anyone under age 35 in its marketing.
