The Salem-Keizer School District is suing e-cigarette manufacturer Juul, joining over a dozen Oregon school districts with similar claims alleging the company has harmed student health and increased campus security costs.
The suit, filed Nov. 9 in the U.S. District Court in Eugene, says vaping ties up school security workers, has led to multiple fire alarms caused by students using e-cigarettes in bathrooms, and has resulted in hundreds of disciplinary incidents with students as young as fifth grade.
The annual cost to the district from staff time needed to respond to vaping incidents and contracts to provide substance abuse counseling is over $1.5 million, the district’s complaint says.
“What became most compelling to me is when I heard about the way specifically Juul advertises, how they promote for kids,” said Superintendent Christy Perry. “They are marketing to kids in an industry that should already know better.”
The lawsuit is nearly identical to one filed by Portland Public Schools in October. It’s among more than 300 lawsuits against Juul from school districts and other plaintiffs being consolidated in U.S. District Court in California for the Northern District.
The complaint says Juul deliberately marketed its products to teens through the use of young models and fruit flavored e-cigarettes while making false and misleading statements about the nicotine content of e-cigarettes. The school lawsuits argue Juul is responsible for a significant increase in youth nicotine use.
Juul has argued in other suits it did not market its products illegally to minors. The company did not respond to questions Monday from Salem Reporter about the allegations in the district’s suit.
Dan Borresen, an assistant principal at McNary High School, said in his 34 years at the school, he saw youth cigarette use virtually eliminated prior to the advent of e-cigarettes.
The last time he can recall confiscating traditional cigarettes from a student was six years ago, he said.
“We don’t see cigarettes any more,” he said.
But as e-cigarettes became popular, he said they became ubiquitous at school. The devices looked like USB drives, making them easy for students to hide, and didn’t come with the negative associations traditional cigarettes carried, like bad odors and stained hands.
“Vaping and Juul got rid of all of that,” he said.
McNary had a fire alarm go off last year because of students vaping in the bathrooms, Borresen said. That means evacuating the entire building while the fire department investigates, resulting in 30 to 45 minutes of lost class time.
The district estimated in the suit that its 45 campus security officers spend a quarter of their work time responding to e-cigarettes use on campus, including monitoring bathrooms and getting students back to class.
One district high school with e-cigarette monitors installed recorded 2,400 alerts for vaping during the 2020-21 school year alone — a year when students attended class online until the spring.
Juul in September agreed to a $440 million settlement following an investigation by 33 states, including Oregon, into its marketing practices to teens.
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to stop marketing tactics designed to draw in young people, including using models under 35, paying social media influencers and using cartoons, according to the Associated Press.
But that settlement money won’t flow directly to school districts, who contend they’re dealing with substantial impacts from the rise in vaping.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
