There’s no cost to join the lawsuit and based on other conversations with superintendents, this is a good deal.”

Linda Rosenbury, Port Townsend School District Superintendent

The Port Townsend School District is joining hundreds of other school districts in Washington state and nationwide against vape-maker Juul and one of its investors, Altria Group.

Port Townsend, with more than 800 school districts, hopes to hold the companies accountable after reports from school districts nationwide have shown widespread use of the portable smoking devices among high school students.

The Port Townsend School Board approved the decision to join in its meeting Thursday, April 14.

“Over 800 school districts have joined a nationwide lawsuit against Juul and Altria, which are two companies who sell Juuls and e-cigarettes,” said Superintendent Linda Rosenbury during the school board’s last meeting. “There’s been an increase in e-cigarette use by Washingtonian students.”

Juul devices are small, portable nicotine vaporizers that can be commonly mistaken as a flash drive. The smoking product picked up in popularity among underage users in 2016 and onward for its use of fruit flavors and marketing towards young adults, causing a surge in usage by high school and middle school students around the U.S.

Many measures at the local, state, and federal levels have been made to prevent underage use of nicotine and e-cigarette products, with one of the most notable actions being the United States passing legislation to raise the minimum age for sale of tobacco products to 21 instead of 18 back in 2019.

The lawsuit aims to hold Juul and Altria accountable for the funds used by school districts to counter, prevent, and educate students on the use of popular vaping devices.

“The idea is we want to join this lawsuit so we can benefit from the money that these companies may give us for prevention of vaping, especially in our school buildings through things like vaping detectors and through education around the dangers, which are especially prevalent between ages 11 and 25, where nicotine actually re-wires the brain and is very, very addictive,” Rosenbury told the school board.

With the possibility of financial compensation and accountability from Juul and Altria and their smoking devices’ impact on America’s youth, Rosenbury and other school officials see joining the lawsuit as a win-win all around.

“There’s no cost to join the lawsuit and based on other conversations with superintendents, this is a good deal,” Rosenbury said. “There’s no reason not to join it.”

The lawsuit is set to go to trial in November.