Juul wants to hook kids on nicotine. This California leader just complicated that plan

It’s been a rough few years for Juul, the California-based corporation that specializes in hooking American schoolchildren on fruity-flavored nicotine products.

Credited with sparking a national epidemic of youth nicotine addiction, Juul now faces hundreds of lawsuits and multiple federal investigations. The company’s valuation has “plummeted to about $12 billion from $38 billion” since 2018 according to the Wall Street Journal. Cities and states around the nation have banned the products, and the company has been forced to temporarily suspend sales of some flavored products.

But the nefarious youth addiction technology company could have gotten a lucky break in the California State Legislature if Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, had allowed Juul’s favorite legislator — Adam Gray of Merced — to decide the fate of Senate Bill 793.

SB 793 would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products in California, protecting our children from Juul’s greedy clutches. It’s the latest effort by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, to end epidemic youth nicotine addiction. The state Senate approved the bill 33-4.

Now it heads to the Assembly, where Cooley — chair of the Rules Committee — boosted its chances on Sunday afternoon. Though Cooley’s office did not respond to a request for comment while SB 793’s committee assignment was still pending on Friday, he appeared to do the right thing as this editorial went to print.

SB 793 will now go to the Assembly Health Committee chaired by Jim Wood, an opponent of Big Tobacco. That’s great news for California’s kids. If Cooley had assigned it to Asm. Gray’s Governmental Organization committee, SB 793 would have been dead on arrival.

Just as Juul specializes in addicting kids, Gray specializes in killing legislation unfriendly to Big Tobacco. The Democrat is so beholden to the tobacco lobby that he should wear a warning label on his back: “This legislator may be harmful to your child’s health.”

Time and again, Gray has openly done the tobacco industry’s bidding. In 2015, during the early days of the youth addiction boom, Gray scuttled a bill — SB 140 — to regulate e-cigarettes.

“And thus tobacco got what it paid for, leaving no fingerprints,” wrote this Editorial Board, noting that Gray had taken $40,500 from tobacco companies.

That year, an American Cancer Society lobbyist told The Bee that Gray’s committee was a “backstop the tobacco industry has installed for themselves.”

Last year, Gray did it again.

“A strong bill to ban the sale of flavored vaping products was sidelined without a hearing in a committee controlled by Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Juul, earlier this summer,” wrote this Editorial Board, noting that Juul had donated $33,800 to Gray.

The tobacco industry rewarded Gray for his loyal service. “On the first business day after the legislative year came to a close, Assemblyman Adam Gray accepted $25,000 to his ballot measure committee from Philip Morris USA, the maker of America’s most popular cigarette, Marlboro,” reported Scott Lay of The Nooner.

Philip Morris is a subsidiary of Altria, which also owns a large stake in Juul.

Gray’s ties to Juul go beyond money. Kenton Stanhope, who played a key staff role on Gray’s committee, now does government affairs for Juul. Taylor Giroux, Gray’s chief of staff, is the daughter of a longtime tobacco lobbyist who counts Altria as a client.

The conflicts seem glaringly obvious. Questioned about his ties to Juul, Gray expressed indignation.

“I employ the best staff in the Capitol,” he said in a statement.

Gray said he supports a ban on Juul’s child-addicting products and wants to restrict and tax nicotine vaping.

“If that’s what you get for hiring my old staff I’d rethink that strategy,” Gray said.

Of course, Gray’s anti-tobacco bills have a way of disappearing once he’s killed off their competition. While working to derail last year’s flavor ban, Gray touted his own weaker legislation. Anti-tobacco advocates called it a “sham.”

After his committee successfully sidelined the strong ban bill, Gray’s bill mysteriously vaporized.

Neat trick but, thanks to Cooley, he won’t get a chance to repeat it this year.

Addicting children is an ugly business. If not for Gray’s machinations, California would have addressed this issue years ago. Asm. Cooley did the right thing to protect California’s kids by sending SB 793 to the Health Committee instead of the Juul Committee.