An East Bay school district has joined the fight against teen vaping and the company they say is responsible for making it popular with young people.

The Acalanes Union High School District joined four other districts in a lawsuit against JUUL Labs, Inc., for its role in cultivating what the district calls “an e-cigarette epidemic that disrupts the education and learning environment” across its district.

The suit was filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court on Tuesday.

The Rocklin Unified School District, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, Anaheim Union School District and Poway Unified School District are all part of the lawsuit. Ten other school districts — Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified, Glendale Unified, Compton Unified, King City Union, Ceres Unified, Anaheim Elementary, Campbell Union, Chico Unified and David Joint Unified — all filed a lawsuit as a group against JUUL earlier this month.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to force JUUL to stop producing the e-cigarettes, as well as compensatory damages for financial losses suffered by the districts as a result of students being absent.

“The lawsuit represents a commitment by the board, the superintendent, and the community to end a health epidemic for young people, Associate Superintendent Amy McNamara said by phone Thursday. “JUUL has gone out of its way to market to young people, and they’ve succeeded. We’re seeing it everywhere.”

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the number of e-cigarette uses increased by 1.5 million from 2017 to 2018, the largest spike in any substance recorded in 44 years.

“They’ve absolutely normalized vaping,” McNamara said. “I’ve had students come to the health center saying they want to stop, and they simply can’t.”

A spokesman for JUUL Labs said the company is working to earn back a better reputation among the public.

“We remain focused on resetting the vapor category in the United States and earning the trust of society by working  cooperatively with regulators, attorneys general, public health officials and other stakeholders to combat underage tobacco use and convert adult smokers from combustible cigarettes,” spokesman Ted Kwong said in an emailed statement.

Kwong also pointed toward JUUL’s elimination in November of all flavors but tobacco and menthol, as well as its elimination of its print, digitgal and TV advertising.

“Our customer base is the world’s 1 billion adult smokers,” Kwong said. “We do not intend to attract underage users. To the extent these cases allege otherwise, they are without merit.”

The district says the increase in vaping can be pointed at JUUL, because “it was marketed as a safe alternative,” McNamara said, “even though we don’t know yet if it is.”

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that nearly 5 million middle and high school students used tobacco products in 2018 and that 3.6 million used e-cigarettes. It also said that vaping exceeds any other kind of substance abuse among middle schoolers and second only to alcohol.

More than 80 percent of high school seniors nationally also reported that it was easy to get e-liquid with nicotine for vaping.