Colorado to receive $31 million settlement from Juul

BY OLIVIA PRENTZEL THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado is expected to receive $31.7 million from electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs in a multistate settlement over claims the company used deceptive marketing tactics and promoted products to teens, the state’s attorney general announced April 11.

e lawsuit, led in 2020, claimed Juul was misrepresenting the health risks of their vapes and targeted young people by hiring social media in uencers to promote e-cigarettes and brand ambassadors to give free samples to teens at Colorado convenience stores.

“ is settlement is a victory for the state of Colorado and everyone who fell victim to Juul’s reckless, deceptive, and unconscionable marketing tactics,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “While no amount of money or new restrictions on Juul’s business practices can undo the harms caused by the teen vaping epidemic, this settlement will make

Ghost Guns

Congress.

Regulations around ghost guns in other states are all relatively recent, making their e cacy di cult to gauge, Anderman said.

ere are di culties around regu- great strides toward reducing it and can support young people who are hurting now more than ever.” e settlement funds will be used solely to address tobacco prevention and teen mental health programs, Weiser said in a news conference, despite a news release his o ce sent earlier that said it would be used in part to cover attorneys’ fees.

Vapes typically contain the same addictive nicotine as other tobacco products.

“ at $31 million is going to be dedicated entirely to supporting young people who have su ered both from a public health and from a mental health perspective,” Weiser said. “ e kids are not OK. Right now they’re su ering. is vaping epidemic is part of that, it has in icted harms that remain and that need to be addressed.” e attorney general’s o ce will send $167,000 to the National Association of Attorneys General to reimburse them for a grant they provided for investigation and litigation costs, according to the settlement. lating the production of guns that can be made behind closed doors, but Anderman said the bill will focus primarily on sellers and distributors of ghost gun parts.

“We are trying to essentially go after the supply,” Anderman said.

In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a rule requiring that kits that can be used to create rearms at

Under the settlement agreement, Juul will be prohibited from using those marketing tactics in the future, Weiser said. e company will also be required to hire a compliance o cer and provide the public opportunities to review documentation of their compliance with the agreement.

Most recent state data shows that 16% of Colorado teens reported they had vaped in the past month. When Colorado led the suit, the state had the highest rate of vaping teenagers in the nation at 27%, double the nation average, according to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey.

Juul has settled lawsuits with 47 states and territories, paying more than $1 billion, the company said.

“With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future,” a company spokesman said. “Since our companywide reset in the fall of 2019, underage use of JUUL products has declined by 95% based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey.” home must include serial numbers. e bill comes as Democrats in the Colorado legislature have taken up four other measures aimed at preventing gun violence. e bills would impose a three-day waiting period for all gun purchases, raise the minimum age for buying guns to 21 and expand Colorado’s red ag law to let teachers, prosecutors and medical professionals also petition a judge to order the is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media. temporary seizure of someone’s guns. A fourth bill would make it easier to sue the gun industry. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Colorado sued Juul with other attorneys general, including from California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and New York. e total settlement was $462 million.

Late last year, Juul announced it settled more than 5,000 cases brought by about 10,000 plainti s in the U.S., sidestepping a substantial amount of legal issues for the company.

“ ese settlements represent a major step toward strengthening Juul Labs’ operations and securing the company’s path forward to ful ll its mission to transition adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes while combating underage use,” the company said in a news release.

Davis, who started Clover’s Closet with her daughter, Molly, in 2019. roughout the month of March, Roots and Mane hosted a prom drive at its salon to collect clothing and accessories to donate to Clover’s Closet, which organized the clothing into a retail setting for students to shop.

Taking it a step further, for Eagle students, the salon hosted a cash and gift card drive.

“Our Roots and Mane family and all of our clients that come here, they … have the most generous, huge hearts. And so it was the perfect platform,” she said. “Truly, it’s touched Jess, my sister, and Jeremy, and I’s heart, with just the amount of donations and people showing up with gift cards and sticking cash in the envelope after an appointment.”

A di erent way of learning

Eagle Academy is an alternative, afternoon and evening high school that serves students between the ages of 16 and 20.

Eagle came to Lone Tree in 2017, said Je Broeker, the high school’s principal. It was founded, however, in the early 1990s as a program that was housed in Highlands Ranch High School.

Initially, the program took about 120 students who were identi ed by an at-risk quali er, Broeker said.

“In the state of Colorado, at-risk has a number of quali ers anywhere from truancy, to credit loss, to learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, homelessness — they’re all various examples of what could identify kids (as) at risk,” he said.

Once the program moved to Lone Tree, it was able to expand to up to 150 students, he said.

“ ey come from all over our district. In fact, all nine traditional schools have representation at Eagle. And occasionally, we will get some out-of-district candidates,” he said, saying the high school has had students from Denver Public Schools, Littleton Public Schools and Cherry Creek Schools.

Eagle is considered a school of choice and is a public school, Broeker said. It is quarterly school, so the student population is frequently changing. e only prerequisite for students is that they have attempted traditional high school.

“What I would like people to understand is that the word ‘alternative’ shouldn’t bring about this perception of ‘bad,’ or kids that don’t follow rules, or are doing bad things.

“‘Alternative’ should say, ‘ is is a school that provides a di erent way of learning for kids that need a different way of learning,’” Broeker said.

“I think what we do is we provide a unique learning environment for kids who learn di erently, and it’s got a tremendous amount of support.”

Supporting Eagle’s first prom

One of the perceptions some students have about attending an alternative school is that it means they will give up certain big-school traditions, such as prom, Broeker said.

“Prom is a pretty important component, and to bring something like that into a small school setting, it allows our kids to have that same experience,” he said. “Even though they know that the traditional schools are probably not the best place for them to get their academic and mental health needs met, they can still have that same high school experience.”

Eagle Academy will be hosting its rst prom on April 29 at the new Legacy Campus in Lone Tree, with the theme of a night in Paris. e idea has been in the works since 2019, said Heather Clark, the volunteer coordinator for Eagle Academy. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the planned 2020 prom had to be canceled.

“I promised the group of students I worked with back in 2019, they made me promise that I wouldn’t change the theme for the rst prom,” Clark said. “It’ll be beautiful, and it’ll be fun.”

When Mayor Jackie Millet and Harmon came to tour Eagle Academy earlier this year, the upcoming prom came up, as did conversations about the nancial hardships some students face.

“I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people assume that Douglas County is a very wealthy district. And I think, for the most part, you do have a signi cant number of families that are fairly well o ,” Broeker said. “But like any community, you always are going to have pockets of people that maybe struggle more.”

Some students at Eagle Academy are working to contribute to their home, he said. Clark added that some are working full-time jobs to help pay for groceries and rent.

“We have a lot of families that are struggling to get by. is is not the cheapest place to live, Douglas County. I mean, Lone Tree is expensive enough, but so is the rest of the county. And you know, people are working hard just to get by,” Broeker said.

“It’s awesome because it gives some of our students that don’t have semi-formal apparel a way to get it. And if they don’t have the funds, then they have a way to get it,” she said. “I’m very grateful for that because it’ll allow more of our students to go and dress up.”

Clark said she has the mentality that everyone doing a little bit accomplishes a lot.

“Every little thing helps and is de nitely helping our teens who are dealing with adult stu , adult bills, and just trying to make it through high school, and trying to push through and nish and have some fun while doing it,” she said.

Clover’s Closet aims to help

When a student comes to a Clover’s Closet pop-up shop to select formal attire for an upcoming prom or homecoming dance, a goal for Davis is to make it similar to any other shopping experience.

“It’s important to us to do it in a retail setting, so that when they’re coming in, it’s a store. It doesn’t look any di erent from any other store,” Davis said. “So when they come in, they’re able to come in and shop there with their friends. ey’re maintaining those social norms that any kid would have.” e main di erence from a traditional retail shopping experience is that after a student has found what they want, they don’t have to pay anything.

“It’s available for all students, so it’s all inclusive,” Davis said. “It’s no money, no transactions. You just come in, you shop and everything’s free.” e importance of this work was evident to Davis during Clover’s Closet prom event last year, when a young lady came in with her mother. e student selected a bubblegum pink tulle ball gown, a pair of shoes, a purse, some jewelry and makeup, Davis recalled.

“And her mom was sitting there and she was kind of nervous. She goes, ‘So how does this work?’” Davis said, explaining that she then told the mom that everything was free.

“And she looked at me and she started crying,” she said. “And you know, that’s why we do it.”

In addition to hosting these popup shops in the spring and fall, Clover’s Closet also does community outreach with other organizations such as Douglas County Human

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