Since the beginning of this school year, there have been numerous rumors about Juul restrictions, like decreasing or stopping all production of the nicotine flash drive. But it seems like this gossip might become a reality.
According to The New York Times, this past week, the e-cigarette market king announced they would be cutting out more than half of their pod flavors. With doing this, they declined all retail store orders of the flavor pods mango, cucumber, fruit medley and creme brûlée. This leaves mint, Virginia tobacco and any kind of menthol flavors in order to prevent Juul users to turn to cigarettes.
The reasoning behind this cutback is the tight observation by the Food and Drug Administration and the diversion of Juul’s purpose. This smoking “portable charger” was created for the purpose of helping cigarette smokers quit. Juuls give the same nicotine buzz without tobacco and tar. Although this is a fact, no one is surprised to look out their car window at a red light and see the water vapor Juul smoke come out of a high schooler’s car. And this number of young Juul users is only growing.
Along with their close eyes on Juul, the FDA was also able to get hold of Juul’s marketing documents that seemed to be advertising to minors. With knowing this, the FDA gave Juul 60 days to come up with plans that had no intentions to be targeted at minors. As mentioned before, Juul will now no longer sell four of their flavors, but they will also be shutting down their Facebook and Instagram (CNBC). The New York Times states that the sale of these pod flavors make up 45 percent of their sales.
The decrease in pod flavors is not the only limitation added. Currently, anyone that is 18 or older is able to buy anything related to Juuls with the proof of an official ID. This will no longer be the case. You might have to add some more plans to your 21st birthday – ordering your first legal drink and buying a pack of Juul pods. Juul plans to increase the buying age to 21 with the purchasing of anything related to them. In addition to the “Juul legal age,” online purchasing for Juuls will come to a stop, according to CNBC.
In some people’s eyes, these new rules is an end of an era and is seen as a tragedy. But we must remember, we are the generation that is to bring underage smoking to a halt. We can’t be the generation to say this if we’ve got mint water vapor blowing out from our mouths. So say good bye to the “bathroom breaks” taken in school, and hello to steady glucose levels.