CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The American Cancer Society is hoping that they will eventually be able to use the $7.9 million Juul settlement money West Virginia won in order to help cancer prevention related to smoking and vaping.
In 2023, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey who now serves as the governor, won the settlement against Juul Labs.
Doug Hogan, Government Relations Director for ACS says that the settlement showed that Juul Labs was the catalyst for youths to start using e-cigarettes.
“They were some of the early entries into the e-cigarette business,” he said on MetroNews Talkline Wednesday morning. “The settlement shows that they targeted youths with their products, they used all of the flavors, the packaging, making it cool and oh this is not going to hurt you.”
He says that the money has not been allocated yet and that he was disappointed the money wasn’t mentioned in the state’s budget during Morrisey’s State of the State address earlier this month.
However, he is hopeful that there will be something down the road that will allow them to use the money for smoking prevention.
“We’re hopeful that there will be supplemental appropriations, we’re hopeful that they’ll come back and take a look at some issues that have bubbled to the surface internally and look at the Juul issue and make sure we can spend those funds for youth prevention so we can protect our kids,” Hogan said.
He says they want to focus on preventing kids from even picking up a vape in the first place.
“So, what we want to do again is focus on prevention, so if that the kids don’t start, then we don’t have to deal with all of the issues later on,” Hogan said.
He said he has had conversations with Governor Morrisey’s administration about this issue, as well as the overall goal of reducing the cancer burden for the youth in the future.
“We’re looking to reduce that cancer burden, break the cycle of addiction in many cases when it comes to tobacco usage, and have the next generation a little healthier than this generation and be a little more productive in the work force, and have a little reduced expenses when it comes to healthcare premiums and those sorts of things,” Hogan said.
And one of things that they talk about with legislators while visiting the capitol is raising taxes on tobacco products.
Hogan says that they would use the money they get from this to make the resources for people who have quit smoking and resources to prevent anyone from picking up a cigarette, a vape, or an e-cigarette, stronger.
“They need help, and they need the resources so let’s make those investments, provide those resources so they can be successful,” he said. “When you’re looking at young people, kind of the same thing, let’s get to them early, middle school, high school, lets show them the consequences and the negative impacts, vaping and e-cigarette is not cool, it’s not the cool thing to do, there are negatives.”