As an advocate of individual liberty, I believe that people should be allowed to consume whatever they want as long as the liberties of other people aren’t being infringed upon, and Juuls are no exception.
For anyone unaware of what a Juul is, it’s a smaller, sleeker-looking e-cigarette that is much more compact than the common box vapes that are also in circulation. It resembles a flash drive and operates similarly to box vapes.
The New York Times reports that over three million middle and high school students use some kind of e-cigarette. This is a shocking number that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) caught on to, launching an investigation into the company’s marketing strategy.
According to Seventeen, “As the FDA continues to investigate Juul’s marketing strategy, the company has agreed to suspend its social media marketing as well as the sale of flavored pods in retail stores, leaving the mint, tobacco, and menthol flavors still available, among a few others.”
The silver lining in this cloud is that the original purpose of the e-cigarette is still intact and a full ban wasn’t put into place. The original purpose of Juul was to help smokers kick traditional cigarettes.
I don’t think the removal of the more extravagant flavors will hinder the struggle of smokers trying to kick their cigarette troubles. But I have to disagree with the removal of all flavors.
The goal of the FDA is a noble one. Of course, this government agency is in charge of regulating food and drugs, ensuring that what the public consumes isn’t dangerous.
But should the FDA have this much authority over what we put into our bodies? This writer doesn’t think so.
Juul has taken an initiative in limiting their flavors before the FDA limits their sales altogether, but I really don’t see a wide assortment of flavors as a marketing tactic designed to attract young people.
I agree with the FDA that no kind of cigarette or e-cigarette should be marketed for children, but this Juul debacle is an overreach.
While I don’t vape or use Juuls myself, I know plenty of people that do. Being around e-cigarettes for the past four years has exposed me to a lot of different flavors.
People enjoy the wide variety of available flavors and I think it’s a great thing that people do that. Are teenagers more inclined to use e-cigarettes due to this? Probably, but dangerous freedom is preferable over peaceful slavery.
Plenty of things out there are dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that the government needs to swoop in and start regulating everything.
Let the people Juul in peace.
