FDA Sends Warning Letters to Stores Selling Juul E-Cigarette
There’s a popular e-cigarette that’s all the buzz among teens.
They are called Juul’s and the Food and Drug Administration is warning stores across the country about selling them to teens. These devices could be confused with a flash drive.
“We’ve always been real strict about underage kids-carding,” says Donald Cruz, manager at Nebulous Vapors.
The Food and Drug Administration has sent warning letters to 40 stores who officials say were observed selling Juul’s to minors. Some on the list were gas stations and smoke shops. Some vape shops were also listed but at Nebulous vapors in Montgomery, the product is not on the shelves.
“I don’t get a lot of inquiries about them. I don’t have a lot of people asking about them and they’re just really small and they use a higher concentrate of nicotine,” says Cruz.
Officials say one Juul pod is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes.
“As a vape industy, we’ve never condoned selling to minors. That’s one of our big things, we do not market to kids. We try to stay as far away from that as possible,” says Cruz.
Cruz says his store does not tolerate selling to minors. In fact you are not allowed inside if you are under age 19.
“I believe that kids shouldn’t not be doing that kind of thing. They should be focused on things like school,” says Cruz.
He says e-cigarettes serve as an alternative for adults, as a safe way to quit smoking.
“I think that parents should be more involved with what they’re doing-what they’re taking to school,” says Cruz.
Of the 40 stores caught by the FDA. None were in Alabama. The warning letter issued by the FDA can be found at the following link: https://www.fda.gov/tobaccoproducts/newsevents/ucm605278.htm
