Although youth cigarette smoking rates are down, overall nicotine use has increased among teens.
A recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), has revealed that U.S. high school students are now smoking fewer cigarettes than ever in the survey’s history. However, despite this decline in cigarette smoking, the overall use of tobacco and nicotine products is on the rise.
The survey revealed a 30% percent decline in youth cigarette smoking since 2013. Use of other combustible products, such as cigars, is also headed down. However, the data also show that overall use of tobacco and nicotine products among youth was up, due primarily to past 30-day use of electronic vapor products, such as e-cigarettes.
Data has revealed that nearly one in four youth experiment with vaping products. High school students are widely experimenting with e-cigarettes, which are not yet regulated for their contents or quality and are sold in candy, fruit and alcohol flavors, which are proven to appeal to young people.
The key takeaway from the continued and dramatic decline in cigarette use in the face of a rising total for all tobacco and nicotine products should be that robust public education programs and laws that limit youth access, with minimum package size requirements, fees and taxes and enforced minimum age requirements for sale, are effective at changing teen behavior, as they have helped bring cigarette use down again in 2015.
This is the first time the YRBS included e-cigarettes so there is no way to assess trends. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently asserted its authority over e-cigarettes, full regulation will take a minimum of two to three years. That is a long time to wait and more robust restrictions on flavored products and marketing that protect youth, may take even longer. It isn’t surprising that these unregulated products would be the ones that end up being used by youth, given they’re easier to obtain and their access is largely unrestricted.
The new data are coming out just as lawsuits and other efforts are unfolding in an attempt to prevent the FDA from moving ahead with their new limits on e-cigarettes.