Since becoming Juul’s CEO in 2019, K.C Crosthwaite has cut the company’s workforce in half and pulled most of its well-known e-cigarette products off the market, thereby deliberately cutting sales.
To Crosthwaite that’s progress. Juul’s rapid growth was the target of got anti-smoking groups, suburban moms terrified their kids – who were getting high and drinking with parental foreknowledge if not consent – would become addicted to nicotine and media coverage that framed Juul as a trojan horse for increased cigarette use.
Slowing down and paring back growth is tied to Crosthwaite’s goal of building up a body of evidence demonstrating that the use of the device reduces the harm of smoking. Most critically, in August “Juul submitted a Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) for the JUUL device as well as its Virginia Tobacco and Menthol flavored JUULpod.”
As part of that submission, JUUL has provided data on the persistence and rates of switching to their product from cigarettes. It turns out that 43 percent of dual users (people who smoke cigarettes and use JUUL devices) switched entirely to an e-cigarette over a 12-month period.
Additionally, JUUL has been monitoring the effect of programs it has in place to limit and reduce underage use of its products. JUUL has generated real-world evidence demonstrating that uptake by people 21 and younger declined.
Speaking at the (virtual) Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (GTNF) Crosthwaite noted that the emergence of non-combustible products has created a historic opportunity to drive down cigarette use around the world. Unfortunately, most public health agencies are outlawing or limiting e-cigarette sales while allowing tobacco sales to continue. The same agencies have made a point of inflating and identify the risks of e-cigarettes so that most consumers think they are riskier than tobacco. No wonder that cigarette consumption has been increasing, a trend that began before the pandemic and continues even now.
As Crosthwaite pointed out, the rebound in cigarette sales due to the fearmongering and counterproductive regulation of non-combustible nicotine products increases the risk of tobacco-related death and disease. Let’s hope the PMTA process can be used to move past such obstacles so that we can continue to eradicate smoking from the planet.
To Crosthwaite that’s progress. Juul’s rapid growth was the target of got anti-smoking groups, suburban moms terrified their kids – who were getting high and drinking with parental foreknowledge if not consent – would become addicted to nicotine and media coverage that framed Juul as a trojan horse for increased cigarette use.
Slowing down and paring back growth is tied to Crosthwaite’s goal of building up a body of evidence demonstrating that the use of the device reduces the harm of smoking. Most critically, in August “Juul submitted a Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) for the JUUL device as well as its Virginia Tobacco and Menthol flavored JUULpod.”
As part of that submission, JUUL has provided data on the persistence and rates of switching to their product from cigarettes. It turns out that 43 percent of dual users (people who smoke cigarettes and use JUUL devices) switched entirely to an e-cigarette over a 12-month period.
Additionally, JUUL has been monitoring the effect of programs it has in place to limit and reduce underage use of its products. JUUL has generated real-world evidence demonstrating that uptake by people 21 and younger declined.
Speaking at the (virtual) Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (GTNF) Crosthwaite noted that the emergence of non-combustible products has created a historic opportunity to drive down cigarette use around the world. Unfortunately, most public health agencies are outlawing or limiting e-cigarette sales while allowing tobacco sales to continue. The same agencies have made a point of inflating and identify the risks of e-cigarettes so that most consumers think they are riskier than tobacco. No wonder that cigarette consumption has been increasing, a trend that began before the pandemic and continues even now.
As Crosthwaite pointed out, the rebound in cigarette sales due to the fearmongering and counterproductive regulation of non-combustible nicotine products increases the risk of tobacco-related death and disease. Let’s hope the PMTA process can be used to move past such obstacles so that we can continue to eradicate smoking from the planet.
