How Common is Teen E-Cigarette Use?

This content leverages data from USAFacts, a non-profit that visualizes governmental data. You can learn more on its website, Facebook, and Twitter.

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration will move to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to discourage youth vaping and follow the path laid by several cities and the state of Michigan, which have already banned them in response to a wave of illnesses under investigation.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) tracks the use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes by teens and found that in 2018, 25% of 6th through 12th graders reported that they had used an e-cigarette at least once in their life, while 14% vaped within in the last 30 days. This chart from USAFacts compares use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes by middle & high schoolers in the last 30 days and in their lifetime:

Among 9th graders, e-cigarette use was particularly prevalent with 28% reporting that they had used an e-cigarette at least once in data from 2018. They were also the only grade in which the percentage of students reporting e-cigarette usage within the last 30 days (16%) was equal to the percentage reporting that they’d smoked a cigarette at least once in their life.

What are both sides saying about the potential ban?

Proponents of banning flavored vaping products argue that flavors such as “cotton candy” are marketed towards children even though e-cigs aren’t available for minors to purchase and some jurisdictions require tobacco purchasers to be over the age of 21. Following a White House press event with the president and first lady, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar released a statement which read in part:

“The Trump administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools, and communities… We will not stand idly by as these products become an on-ramp to combustible cigarettes or nicotine addiction for a generation of youth.”

Detractors argue that banning the flavored vaping products won’t yield the desired health gains and may in fact make the problem worse by driving consumers to the black market or to cigarettes, which contain substantially more carcinogens than vaping products. The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently released a study titled “Lung Disease Outbreak Caused by Black Market, Not Vaping”, and Senior Fellow Michelle Minton warned that:

“Banning flavors won’t prevent youth vaping but will drive adults back to smoking or into the black market. The rise in death and disease that will follow such a ban will, no doubt, be blamed on e-cigarettes and used to lobby for even greater restrictions. But the blame will belong to special interests will belong to special interests spending billions to spread lies, the news media that spreads misinformation, and the lawmakers who base regulations on fear instead of facts.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Paolo_Toffanin)