Infamous America - Introducing "The Vaping Fix" from Wondery

Episode Date: May 18, 2021

Two young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs set out to rid the world of smoking with an incredible new product. The device stands to disrupt the tobacco industry and make them rich, until it falls into the wrong hands and lives are ruined. From classrooms to hospitals, boardrooms to the Oval Office, what can be done to protect teenagers and is it too late? From Laura Beil, the reporter behind Dr Death and Bad Batch, comes The Vaping Fix, the inside story of the rise of Juul and the making of a crisis. Listen to THE VAPING FIX at: http://wondery.fm/VF_InfamousAmerica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everyone, I want to tell you about a new podcast from Wondry that I think you'll love. It's called The Vaping Fix. It's the story of a silent killer, smoking, and how one Silicon Valley tech startups planned to curb it may have done more harm than good. In 2017, plumes of vape clouds surrounded schools across America, and teen smoking rates skyrocketed. As more and more children became addicted to e-cigarettes, parents' politics, parents' polispholing. politicians and health experts looked for answers. All eyes turned to a company at the heart of this new epidemic, Jewel. Jewel was founded to create an iPod-like device that could provide a

safer alternative to smoking. But their pitch-perfect marketing campaign, high levels of nicotine, and social media influencer endorsements attracted users of all ages. Within a year, teenagers were getting addicted. Was this an accident? Or did? did ambition blind them to the unintended consequences that what they created put millions at risk. From Laura Beale, the host of Dr. Death and Bad Batch, Wondry's new podcast miniseries, The Vaping Fix, is the story of how Jewel managed to hook a new generation on vaping. I'm about to play you a preview of the vaping fix. While you're listening, follow the Vaping Fix on Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts. Or you can listen early and listen to

and ad-free by starting your free trial of Wondry Plus in the Wondry app. It was a rainy day in Orangeburg, New York in 2018. John Luca Berecchio was hanging out in his college dorm room between classes. An Italian flag hung on the wall above his bed as a homage to his Italian family back in Connecticut. North Haven is all Italians, so most of them are actually from the same area in Italy. So everyone always says when they see me around town, who am I not related to? John Luca was a sophomore nursing major. His courses and exams could be intense.

But today, he felt unusually tired. And just not really myself. Like, I didn't really have much energy in me to do anything that day. And it felt almost like I had a cold, too. There was a heaviness in his lungs. It felt like almost like there was an elephant, like sitting on my chest. And I was just trying to take, like, deep breaths, like, extremely deep breaths to see if that would kind of clear it up.

It didn't work. Maybe I just need a yawn and maybe that'll help or try coughing it out or something like that. But none of it gave him relief. So he turned to the thing that had been his source of comfort, his electronic cigarette. Without thinking, he took a puff. And then that's when I felt like I felt like I just couldn't breathe anymore. And it felt like my airway was just like closing almost. My lungs felt like they were on fire

And I was just like coughing His face began to turn bright red My roommate, I'll never forget, looked at me And he's like, oh my God, like, what's wrong with you? He got so scared. He actually called 911 Because that's when I started to kind of go out of it Because I couldn't stop coughing. And then everything went black.

I just hear the ambulance like being jiggled around Going over all these bumps And I hear the sirens. glaring and I hear the paramedic telling me like, oh, wake up, like wake up, wake up. He was in the back of an ambulance. There was the paramedic and then an EMT as well. And I had this big oxygen mask on it. I just was terrified like, oh my God, I'm going to die.

When we got to the hospital, they rushed me right in and I was surrounded by a doctor and a few other nurses. It was just like pure chaos in this room right now. and you hear like the oxygen just flowing like 100%. The doctor began asking him questions. Like if I did any drugs, he's like, you just need to tell me what you took because God forbid you could die right now. And I don't know what is wrong

because you need to be honest and truthful with me because someone your age, this doesn't just happen to just because. John Luca told him I haven't taken any drugs. And then that's when the question came up about vaping. I was like, well, I do vape. And he's like, what do you use? And I was like, it's called a jewel. And he wasn't the only one.

A warning for parents tonight. Do you know if your child is jeweling at school? Across the country, high school students have become hooked on a device straight out of Silicon Valley. Another big story tonight. A disturbing study out about teens and vaping, and it shows a significant jump nearly doubling the number from last year in the number of kids that are actually using these nicotine devices. It ended up becoming my oxygen. I couldn't live without it. I needed it. all the time every day. It would set John Luca and so many others on a path to the highest offices in the land. I wrote an email saying, don't worry, girls, we're going to share this story in front of a

congressional committee. Another topic that has been top of mind is teen tobacco use and it is up, and the CDC is blaming who else but jewel. The White House is calling for a ban on nearly all flavored e-cigarettes. These are the flavors that have started this epidemic among young people. with the men behind it. My name is James Moncey's. Adam Bowen and I founded Jewel Labs. We were going to take on big tobacco who had been killing people and lying about it for 100 years.

I said to myself, this is going to be a big challenge for me to manage James through this, and there is no managing James. I remember thinking those smart mother effers, they probably did this on purpose. We never wanted any non-nicotine user, and certainly nobody underage to ever use jewel products. I just, I want to tell you, I've been involved with public health for a long time in the Bay Area. You, sir, are an example to me of the worst of the Bay Area.

I just remember, like, my heart stopped, like, seeing them. And I just, like, froze. And I was just staring at them when they came in. And I was just like, wow, like, that's the people right there that sent me down my spiral and not even caring about it.