Press Releases

Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation Celebrates State’s Historic Settlement with JUUL, Altria

Urges Lawmakers to Dedicate Funds to Youth Prevention and Treatment

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation today celebrated the State’s historic $60.5 million settlement with JUUL Labs and Altria and thanked Attorney General Keith Ellison for holding the tobacco companies accountable for their role in creating the youth e-cigarette epidemic. The coalition again urged lawmakers to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity and dedicate settlement fundsto commercial tobacco prevention and treatment. The JUUL settlement dedication bill(SF2520/HF2422), authored by Senator Kelly Morrison and Representative Kaohly Her, is included in the Senate and House health and human services omnibus bills.

“Thank you to Attorney General Ellison for standing up for our kids and our health,” said Emily Myatt, regional government relations director of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and tri-chair of Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation. “We cannot let this opportunity go to waste and urge lawmakers to dedicate settlement funds to preventing youth from starting and helping adults quit commercial tobacco. We won’t stop fighting back against the tobacco industry until we are finally able to build a generation free from tobacco addiction – including by getting all flavored tobacco products off the marketplace and ensuring all people can freely access tobacco dependency treatment.”

Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation trial holds JUUL Labs – as well as Altria (the tobacco giant formerly known as Philip Morris) and four of its subsidiaries – accountable for deceiving consumers and illegally targeting youth. The state’s youth e-cigarette epidemic, which continues to plague schools and communities, followed JUUL’s aggressive youth-focused marketing campaigns, which copied tactics from Big Tobacco’s playbook. Investigations found that JUUL targeted kids as young as eight with a sophisticated marketing program including summer camps, school programs and hundreds of social media influencers.

“Twenty-five years ago, Minnesota led the nation in holding Big Tobacco accountable for its harms to our health – and today’s settlement with JUUL and Altria continues our state’s leadership in combating the tobacco industry in all its iterations,” said Janelle Waldock, Director of Racial and Health Equity Policy, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Tri-Chair of Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation. “As an original party to the State’s 1998 lawsuit, Blue Cross and Blue Shield celebrates this win and is committed to the ongoing fight to end tobacco’s grip on our kids and all Minnesota residents.”

Every time Big Tobacco addicts another generation of kids, they put all taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in healthcare costs to treat tobacco-related diseases. In 2022, around 2.55 million middle- and high-school students in the U.S. reported using e-cigarettes. Any youth tobacco use is concerning because nicotine is addictive and can harm the adolescent brain.

“Through my work with young Minnesotans, I’ve seen firsthand how JUUL opened a Pandora’s box of youth nicotine addiction that continues to harm young people today,” said Elyse Levine Less, JD, MPH, executive director of Tobacco-Free Alliance, a Minnesota nonprofit focused on youth tobacco prevention. “JUUL deceived and manipulated young people, preying on their mental health challenges to addict a whole generation. Thank you to Attorney General Ellison for standing up to this behavior and making it clear that in Minnesota, we won’t tolerate tobacco companies that target and addict our kids.”

Minnesota has pursued several policies to combat the youth tobacco epidemic fueled by JUUL, including raising the tobacco sale age to 21, passing local restrictions on flavored tobacco, and investing more in prevention and treatment. Youth tobacco rates have fallen since the height of the vaping epidemic, but much more action is needed to prevent lifetime addiction. The 2022 Minnesota Student Survey found student cigarette smoking rates at an all-time low and e-cigarette rates still remain far too high, at 14 percent among 11th-graders and seven percent among 8th-graders. Unfortunately, for many students, e-cigarette addiction is setting in. More than 70 percent of youth e-cigarette users in Minnesota are showing signs of nicotine dependence.

To further reduce youth addiction, Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation urges the Minnesota legislature to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products (SF2123/HF2177) – including menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars, e-cigarettes, hookah and smokeless tobacco. The coalition also supports the bill (SF1320/HF1574) to ensure Minnesotans on Medicaid can access tobacco dependency treatment.

In the 1990s, Minnesota took an aggressive approach to suing the tobacco industry for the health and economic harms caused by their deadly products, and the Minnesota Tobacco Settlement was reached on May 8, 1998. The JUUL trial continued this legacy of leadership. Minnesota was only the second state to include Altria in its legal action against JUUL and was the first state to bring its case to trial.

More information:

• Fact Sheet: Funding Tobacco Prevention and Treatment
• Fact Sheet: End the sale of all menthol and flavored tobacco products
• Recent Minnesota Poll: 2023 Flavored Tobacco Poll Summary
• Fact Sheet: Greater Access to Tobacco Cessation and Treatment

About Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation:

Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation is a coalition of more than 50 organizations that share a common goal of advancing justice by striving toward a future where every person is free from commercial tobacco’s harms and can reach their full health potential. 

Partners include: A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation, Advocates for Better Health, Allina Health, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association in Minnesota, Association for Nonsmokers – Minnesota, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Cancer Legal Care, CentraCare, Children’s Minnesota, Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio – CLUES, Dodge County Public Health, Essentia Health, Eugene Nichols, Faribault Martin & Watonwan Co SHIP, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, HealthPartners, Hennepin County Public Health, Hennepin Healthcare, Horizon Public Health, Indigenous Peoples Task Force, Lincoln Park Children and Families Collaborative, Local Public Health Association of Minnesota, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, Medica, Meeker McLeod Sibley Community Health Services, MHA – Minnesota Hospital Association, Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers, Minnesota Cancer Alliance, Minnesota Council of Health Plans, Minnesota Dental Association, Minnesota Medical Association, Minnesota Public Health Association, Minnesota Society for Public Health Education, Minnesota Youth Council, MNAAP – Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Mowery Communications, LLC, NAMI Minnesota, NorthPoint Health & Wellness, Olmsted Medical Center, Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes, PartnerSHIP 4 Health, Perham Health, Public Health Law Center, Rainbow Health, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, Steele County Public Health, Tobacco-Free Alliance, UCare, WellShare International, Winona County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Note: Tobacco in this release refers specifically to the use of manufactured, commercial tobacco products, and not to the sacred, medicinal and traditional use of tobacco by American Indians and other groups.