Oneida County, Herkimer County and area BOCES will each receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on programs to keep kids from vaping.

The money comes from a $462 million multistate settlement with vape company JUUL Labs Inc., for its role in the rapid rise in vaping among underage youth nationwide.

New York Attorney General announced on Friday, June 21, the amount of money going to the six counties and five BOCES in the Mohawk Valley region, including:

Every county, every BOCES and the state’s five largest cities will receive a portion of the $112.7 million the state is getting through the JUUL settlement.

“JUUL promised a safer alternative to smoking, but instead unleashed a nationwide public health crisis by marketing its addictive products to kids,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Vaping has caused countless health issues and exacerbated youth mental health struggles. My office has secured over $3.4 million for the Mohawk Valley from JUUL to right these wrongs, and through education, prevention, and enforcement, we will work to stop the youth vaping epidemic.”

Where will the money go?

Local officials said they haven’t yet formulated detailed plans for how to spend the money. Officials at the Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES said they only found out they were getting the money last Friday.

“Oneida County has planning meetings scheduled,” Director of Health Daniel Gilmore said. “Vaping is harmful to one’s health and we will be finding ways to reinvest this money back into the community to protect residents from its harmful effects.”

The health department already targets illegal sales of flavored vapes — which have been found to be favored by teens — through the enforcement of the Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act, or ATUPA, program, Gilmore added.

Of the 28 ATUPA violations uncovered in 2023, 22 involved the sale of flavored vapes to minors, he said.

The attorney general’s office has put conditions on the money, which must be used be used in evidence-based programs in one of these areas:

“The Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES has encountered student vaping firsthand and we take that very seriously,” District Superintendent Patricia Kilburn said. “We are grateful for the advocacy of the New York State Attorney General in receiving this funding so that we can continue to do our part to mitigate youth vaping. As we learn more about the funds, we will begin developing appropriate plans for allocation and use.”

The Madison-Oneida BOCES also looks forward to getting the funds, said Matthew Williams, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Madison-Oneida BOCES said. He noted that JUUL’s e-cigarettes led to various public health issues among students across the country.

“Madison-Oneida BOCES anticipates using these funds to support school-based anti-vaping and vaping cessation programs for youth in our region in an effort to help reduce the vaping epidemic,” he said.

More on the settlement

JUUL launched its e-cigarettes in 2015. By 2019, there were more than 2,500 hospitalizations nationally from vaping-related illnesses, according to James’ office. And in October of that year, a 17-year-old boy from the Bronx died from a vaping-related illness, the first vaping death in New York and the youngest victim nationally, according to the attorney general’s office.

James sued JUUL in November 2019, claiming that its glamorized vaping with deceptive and misleading marketing targeted at young people. She won the largest multistate agreement with JUUL and its former directors and executives in April 2023.

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JUUL also misled consumers about the nicotine content in their e-cigarettes, falsely claimed e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes and did not prevent minors from buying their products, according to the attorney general’s office.

As part of the settlement, JUUL also agreed to change some of its sales and marketing practices, including:

• Not targeting youth in marketing, which means not using anyone under the age of 35 in promotional materials, not operating any youth education/prevention campaigns and not sponsoring school-related activities.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: NY Attorney general distributes JUUL settlement money in Mohawk Valley