HALF of American school students who try e-cigarettes become addicted, CDC ... trends now
Half of children who try vaping become addicted, according to a major CDC analysis that shows millions of school students are using e-cigarettes.
The agency's annual youth tobacco survey found that in 2023, nearly eight percent of middle and high school students – around 2.1 million children – currently used e-cigarettes, down slightly from 2.55 million in 2022.
But now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 47 percent of children who have ever tried an e-cigarette currently vape.
Vapes with appealing flavors such as cotton candy and creme brulee have hooked millions of young people, with the latest data showing that about 90 percent of them reported using a fruit or candy- flavored product.
Dr Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, the CDC's director of smoking and health said the decline among high schoolers ‘shows great progress’, but noted that the agency’s work to stamp out youth e-cigarette use ‘is far from over’.
Vaping among high schoolers dipped a considerable amount in the last year, suggesting some progress at tamping down teen use
Vaping among middle school students rose prescipitously over the past year
Over 6.2 million school-age children tried tobacco products, such as vapes, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco in 2023.
Among those who tried e-cigarettes, about 47 percent of them vape to this day and about 25 percent vape daily, about the same rate as last year's.
The rates at which high school students vaped declined about 29 percent from 2022, a promising sign that was tempered by the fact that middle schoolers’ use of e-cigarettes jumped nearly 40 percent.
The CDC’s annual Youth Tobacco Survey is a nationally representative sampling of tobacco use and the trend over the past four years has shown that while the rate of young people lighting up is at an all-time low, more young people are going electric.
Of the ten percent of students who reported currently using a tobacco product, nearly eight percent got their nicotine fix from e-cigarettes.
The 2023 survey results indicated that vaping is still a major public health problem, despite declines in use among high school-age people.
The decline from 14.1 percent (2.14 million) to 10 percent shows significant promise, but it does not negate the fact that 1.5 million high schoolers are still addicted.
Results from the survey of middle schoolers specifically suggest that a major problem is just getting worse.
