E-Cigarette Use Among U.S. Teens Triples
Similar trend seen in Florida, while conventional cigarette use reaches record low
TALLAHASSEE—The number of high school students in the United States who used electronic cigarettes tripled in 2014 compared to just one year earlier, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report confirms the alarming trend that teens across the country and here in Florida are using e-cigarettes and that the rate of initiation is rapidly accelerating.
Similar trends have been reported in the state. The number of Florida high school students who were current e-cigarette users doubled in one year—from 5.4 percent in 2013 to 10.8 percent in 2014. Current use is described as using e-cigarettes at least once during the past 30 days.
Tobacco Free Florida is alarmed by the rapid increase in e-cigarette use among youth, the possibility that e-cigarettes can be a gateway to nicotine addiction and use of other tobacco products, and the potential for e-cigarettes to renormalize smoking.
“Tobacco products like cigarettes and dip have been banned from advertising on TV for decades, and for good reason,” said Tobacco Free Florida Bureau Chief Shannon Hughes. “Yet, new in-your-face e-cigarette ads have recently infiltrated our airwaves with commercials that seem to have taken a page out of Big Tobacco’s playbook for targeting young people.”
Conventional Cigarette Usage in Florida Declines
Florida has made notable progress in decreasing the number of young people who smoke conventional cigarettes. In 2014, Florida had one of the lowest high school smoking rates in the country at 7.5 percent. This was lower than the national average of 9.2 percent for that year.
Fewer young people in Florida are smoking cigarettes than ever before. However, they are using other tobacco and nicotine products more than ever.
The new CDC report shows that hookah use among U.S. teens nearly doubled. In 2014, it rose to 9.4 percent from 5.2 percent in 2013. This data comes from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS).
In Florida, 11.6 percent of Florida high school students reported current hookah use in 2014, compared to 8.2 percent in 2013. It is a troubling and common misconception that hookah is less harmful than cigarette smoking. Hookah smoking is damaging to health6 and carries many of the same risks as conventional cigarette smoking.
