On Tuesday, April 4, the Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) Board of Trustees  approved the acceptance of $100,000 for their participation in a widespread class action lawsuit against JUUL, a company that produces highly addictive e-cigarettes.

Amidst claims that JUUL has been advertising to adolescents, the company is paying $1.7 billion to settle more than 5,000 lawsuits by school districts, local governments and individuals who were allegedly targeted by this marketing.

Senior Odin Crabtree, a member of Redwood’s Tobacco Use and Prevention Education team (TUPE), stated that while TUPE intends to educate students on the risks of nicotine, JUUL’s strategies of marketing towards a younger audience are hooking kids.  

“[JUUL’s advertising] is evil. They try to make it look cool. [Their] manipulative sleekness to try and hook teens, especially since their brains are still developing, [ensures teens] smoke cigarettes as adults. It keeps money flowing into the big tobacco industry,” Crabtree said. 

While the Board hasn’t received the documents outlining the details of the settlement, TUHSD Superintendent Tara Taupier commented on the benefits of the funding towards the entire district with widespread support for accepting the settlement. 

“I’m all in favor of accepting money,” Taupier said. 

The convenience of using a JUUL makes it easy to target young people, which has increased profits but has caused more nicotine addiction amongst teenagers. 

“It just makes them more susceptible to addiction. Decision-making as teenagers is flawed, compared to adults [whose] brains are fully developed at 25; so it’s easier to be addicted at a younger age,” Crabtree said. 

Many are hopeful that the class action lawsuit against JUUL will hopefully stop other companies from targeting young people with addictive substances and overall benefit TUHSD More information should be available in the next few weeks as TUHSD receives works with the legal team to receive the settlement money.