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Colorado will spend $20 million of a $31.7 million lawsuit settlement with e-cigarette producer Juul Labs Inc. on a grant program aimed toward enhancing youth psychological well being, state Lawyer Basic Phil Weiser introduced Tuesday.
This system will prioritize collaborations between college districts and group organizations. The intention is to handle kids’s psychological well being in order that they don’t flip to vaping as a option to cope.
“When you consider a problem like youth vaping, you possibly can take into consideration addressing the symptom — the truth that persons are vaping — or the underlying trigger,” Weiser mentioned in an interview after the announcement. “We’ve chosen to handle the underlying trigger.
“We all know that due to psychological well being points, individuals flip to substances like vaping. That’s why we’re going to the supply to ask: How will we construct higher connections?”
The “how” will likely be as much as the varsity districts, which will likely be invited to use for grants later this 12 months. The lengthy lead time is intentional; Weiser mentioned the purpose is for districts to collaborate with each other and with area people organizations to provide you with packages that assist develop younger individuals’s connections to trusted adults and to 1 one other. A number of Colorado foundations have provided to assist facilitate these collaborations over the subsequent six months.
“We don’t need to prescribe what you could do,” Weiser instructed a room stuffed with educators at a Colorado Schooling Initiative summer season convention, the place he made the announcement. “We need to supply a broad alternative round holistic youth psychological well being and depart it to you to consider what collaboration, what partnership, what methods make sense in your group.”
Colorado sued Juul in 2020, alleging that it focused youth with misleading advertising and performed down the well being dangers of vaping. The state was one among a number of that settled with the corporate. Juul didn’t admit to any wrongdoing within the settlement.
Thirty % of Colorado highschool college students reported having vaped at the least as soon as, in response to the most up-to-date knowledge from the Wholesome Youngsters Colorado Survey, which is run each different 12 months. Sixteen % of scholars mentioned they’d vaped within the final 30 days.
The $20 million grant program is the most important of three packages that Colorado is spending the Juul settlement cash on. The others are a $6 million grant program aimed toward nonprofit organizations and authorities companies, and an $11.4 million grant program for varsity districts to handle the youth vaping disaster. These grant packages are already underway, and Weiser mentioned the recipients will likely be introduced quickly.
Weiser mentioned he sees the $20 million program as particularly impactful due to the ability of collaboration. “Faculties are free to work with whoever of their group is serving younger individuals,” he mentioned. “In some communities, it may be a Boys and Women Membership. In different communities, it may be a library educating youngsters to learn.”
Grant candidates whose college districts serve a mixed 23,000 college students or extra will likely be eligible for a $2.5 million grant over a three-year interval, Weiser mentioned. Candidates whose districts serve between 7,500 and 23,000 college students will likely be eligible for $1.75 million over three years, and districts that serve fewer than 7,500 college students will likely be eligible for $750,000.
Late final 12 months, Colorado led a coalition of 42 attorneys basic nationwide that sued Meta in an identical lawsuit alleging that its social media platforms, together with Instagram, used misleading practices to hurt kids and youths and addict them to social media.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
