Juul Labs plans to release a vaping device with biometric security designed to block youth access to the product, reported The New York Post.
The company spent years in legal battles and settled for $1.7 billion over accusations its marketing deceived consumers.
"Everybody kind of thought Juul was dead and evil," James Sagan, CEO of Architect Capital and a Juul investor, told the publication. "But the early investors and founders have poured a bunch of capital back into the company to save it."
Juul now stakes its future on technology requiring adult users to confirm their age with facial recognition or fingerprint authentication from their phones. The Juul2 uses a smartphone app and Bluetooth connection. Hardware chips inside the pods stay locked until someone over 18 verifies their identity. No one else can turn it on.
Sagan explained the dual purpose: "The new product is basically trying to solve [two problems simultaneously]. How do you keep vapes out of the hands of people who shouldn't be using them, kids, and how do you make it appealing to smokers?"
Disposable vapes produce roughly 30 tons of lithium waste annually in the United States, enough for more than 3,000 electric vehicle batteries. Americans toss about 500,000 disposable vapes daily. Lithium batteries ignite fires in garbage trucks and recycling centers when damaged, and plastic shells persist in landfills for centuries.
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Nicotine affects developing teenage brains and creates addiction in hours. Young vapers experience memory deficits, trouble focusing, mood disturbances, and disrupted sleep. Teenagers who vape are four times likelier to try regular cigarettes.
Juul2 needs Food and Drug Administration clearance before reaching American consumers. The company already offers this device in the United Kingdom, though those versions lack the age-verification technology.
While the measures to prevent use by minors should be positive if successful, it's worth noting that adding cameras or fingerprint sensors would only continue a trend of making vaping devices contribute to e-waste. If the tech is only on reusable devices that take cartridges, the effect on pollution should be negligible, but any of this on single-use vape devices, which are now banned in the United Kingdom, could worsen existing vape-related litter problems.
Founders James Monsees and Adam Bowen created Juul to help adult smokers quit. The business hit a $38 billion valuation in 2018 after Altria bought a 35% share. That value dropped 95% within five years.
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Sagan joined as Juul's first big outside backer after Altria's 2023 exit. If you smoke, ask your doctor about proven quitting methods that protect your long-term health.
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