Juul and Altria hooked Minnesotan children on e-cigarettes — so they could make money.  

They baited, deceived, and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation. 

Now, Big Tobacco is back with a new name — but the same game. Juul wiped out the work of our state with their slick products, clever ads, and attractive flavors.  

My name is Keith Ellison and I serve the people of Minnesota as the Attorney General. You’ll hear from me and my co-counsel today, but let me introduce the other members of my team: James Canaday is Deputy Attorney General, Adam Welle and Eric Maloney are Assistant Attorneys General with my Office; Tara Sutton and Munir Meghjee from the Robins Kaplan law firm in Minneapolis; June Hoidal and Behdad Sadeghi from the Zimmerman Reed law firm, also in Minneapolis; and Caleb Shields, who will be helping us with the exhibits in the case and will be putting up documents up on the screens located in front of you for you to see. 

This is the document that started this case. We first filed this lawsuit back in December 2019. It’s 111 pages long. I sued Juul and Atria because they broke the law, and it’s my job as the Attorney General to protect Minnesotans — including the youngest, most vulnerable Minnesotans — from harm. That’s my job. That’s why I’m here today.  

How did Juul and Altria break the law? Minnesota law says it is illegal for tobacco companies to sell tobacco products to minors. Minnesota law says companies cannot engage in deceptive and misleading behavior that causes its citizens harm. But that’s exactlywhat Juul did with the help of Altria.  

They did it in four ways.  

First, the evidence will show that Juul styled its device like an iPhone, to be sleek, concealable, and difficult for parents and teachers to detect.  

Second, Juul designed its products to include large amounts of nicotine, which is an addictive drug. Nicotine, you will hear, is a particularly addictive drug for children. Juul also added a “salt” which made it easier for the nicotine to be inhaled deep into the lungs. Why? Because the deeper in the lungs that nicotine is inhaled, the faster nicotine reaches the brain. That nicotine buzz.

Third, Juul added flavors to their products that were known to entice kids, like mango, mint, and fruit medley.  

Fourth, Juul then engaged in a marketing campaign, mostly on social media, using colorful images, fun flavors, and young models. They placed Juul in the hands of social-media influencers and celebrities popular with America’s young people. 

Again, why did Juul do that? The evidence will show to make their product “cool” and attractive to “cool kids.”  “Cool kids”: their words, not mine. All of this conduct paved the way for Minnesota children to start and become addicted to Juul’s products.  

And you’ll hear about Altria, which is just another name for the tobacco company Philip Morris. Altria is the largest tobacco company in the country, and the maker of Marlboro, the most popular cigarette brand with kids. You will hear how Altria’s fear of missing out on the hottest new e-cigarette product caused it to acquire part of JUUL for $12.8 billion — that’s billion with a “b” — and agreed to help Juul push their products. Together Altria and Juul got more Juul products in the hands of Minnesota kids.  

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you’ve probably seen a lot of trials on TV. And I bet those trials you’ve seen on TV are criminal trials. 

You know from TV that in a criminal trial you must prove beyond a reasonable doubtto find someone guilty of a crime. That’s a very high threshold. 

That is not what we’re doing here; this is a civil trial. The standard we use here is preponderance of the evidence. That just means more likely true than not or 51 percent. That’s a much lower standard than a criminal case. We’re asking you to find what JUUL and Altria did — more likely than not — broke Minnesota law. To the detriment of our kids.  

Minnesotans protect their children. That’s what we’re known for. Minnesota laws protect children from companies that violate our state’s laws. That is what the evidence will show: that Juul and Altria attacked the health of our children by violating our state’s laws. 

Young people are innocent, and they want to explore. Kids are attracted to what is shiny, slick, cool — and that is exactly who Juul and Altria were targeting and preying upon. 

The State cannot “child-proof” the world and we’re not trying to. But Minnesota law provides that its citizens are protected from companies trying to deceive, manipulate or mislead them.  

And, especially, Minnesota law protects children from companies that engage in misleading and deceptive practices to entice them to buy an addictive product. 

The people we’re asked to protect — the young people Juul and Altria targeted — cannot sit on the jury because they are too young to be on a jury. But you can. You are empowered to protect the health and safety of our kids under Minnesota law.  

We’re going to show how Juul took Big Tobacco’s playbook and literally copied it and ran with it. 

They will try to claim their nicotine-fueled e-cigarettes didn’t addict kids or that it’s everyone else’s fault besides theirs. They refuse to take responsibility for their actions.  

For example, they will try to deflect blame for their conduct by saying Minnesotans should have spent more on stopping them from hooking youth on their products.  

And they say this when we spent more than most states on tobacco prevention and responded with the tools that were available to combat vaping. So it’s just another trick to distract from the harm they caused.  

But it’s not hard to understand that JUUL and Altria were marketing to kids another slick, addictive e-cigarette — and are trying to cast blame in all directions, except their own. It’s a new name, but the same old game. 

Members of the jury, we’re asking you to do nothing but believe your eyes and trust your own good judgment.  

You will hear evidence that Minnesota eliminated a generation of youth cigarette smoking. Then Juul and Altria re-started the fire of nicotine addiction — and accelerated the fire — through their deceptive design and marketing aimed at getting kids hooked on their product.  

You will see Juul’s advertisements and internal documents that show how Juul copied Big Tobacco’s playbook and their blueprint for targeting children.  

The advertisements, the Juul device, and the flavors: they’re all slick, artful, and cool — and they’re designed to be. But their products are dangerous. Juul rewires kids’ brains. They become addicted to nicotine and down the road, the evidence will show, they are at great risk to start smoking and engage in all sorts of risky behaviors. Why would this happen? Because Juul and Altria are putting profits over protecting children. 

We will show you evidence that our state successfully reduced youth smoking to some of its lowest levels in its history.  

And then along comes Juul with their slick marketing — and then vaping skyrockets. Juul, with Altria’s help, eventually got a stranglehold on the youth market for e-cigarettes. Look at what they said and look at what they did. Believe your eyes. And trust your judgment.  

The same companies that got people hooked on tobacco — and profit off tobacco — are now saying they are getting you off tobacco. Ask yourself: is that common sense?  

We will show you evidence through experts that vaping makes people more likely to smoke, alters your brain chemistry, and that these defendants’ predatory marketing toward children addicted a whole new generation of smokers.  

And when you hear them say that we didn’t do enough, they are blaming the firefighter for not putting out the fire fast enough — when the arsonist is the one who started the fire. They’re trying to blame our state for not doing enough to clean up their mess.  

Now, I’m about to take a seat and I’m going to call up Tara Sutton, who will tell you more about the evidence you will hear. 

But remember: Juul and Altria will do everything they can to lead you down rabbit holes, confuse you, muddy the water — or start new fires. They will do this to distract you, and blame Minnesota, for not doing more to protect our kids from Juul’s and Altria’s products and their marketing.   

But keep the main thing the main thing: did their marketing and products deceive and mislead young people to start vaping to their detriment? I think the evidence will show the answer is yes.  

The Official Website of Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

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