Monitoring the Future Survey Confirms Youth E-Cigarette Epidemic Got Worse this Year - It's Time to Ban the Flavored Products Addicting Kids

Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

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Dec 18, 2019, 16:05 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2019 Monitoring the Future survey results released today confirm that the youth e-cigarette epidemic has gotten even worse this year and underscore why policy makers at all levels must act now to eliminate the flavored products that are luring and addicting our kids. This survey also provides troubling new evidence that e-cigarette and vaping products are setting back the nation's overall effort to reduce youth use of addictive substances. While the nation has made progress in reducing youth cigarette smoking and use of certain other substances, including opioids, youth vaping of nicotine and marijuana has risen sharply in recent years.

While the data released today highlights the increase in marijuana vaping among youth, previously released data from this survey shows that even more kids are vaping nicotine. Key findings regarding nicotine vaping include:

From 2017 to 2019, the percentage of students who report vaping nicotine in the past month more than doubled for all three grades surveyed, rising from 11% to 25.5% among 12^th graders, from 8.2% to 19.9% among 10^th graders, and from 3.5% to 9.6% among 8^th graders.
1 in 9 high school seniors (11.6%) report vaping nicotine on a near-daily basis, which is a strong sign of addiction.
Today's survey also provides fresh evidence that Juul is the main driver of this epidemic. Past-month use of Juul was 20.8% among 12^th graders, 18.5% among 10^th graders and 8.5% among 8^th graders.
33.6% of 12^th graders report any use of nicotine in the past month, up from 25.6% two years ago.

These results are consistent with the findings of the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which found similar increases in youth e-cigarette use in the past two years. That survey found that 27.5% of high school students and 10.5% of middle school students – over 5.3 million kids altogether – now use e-cigarettes. It also found that e-cigarettes have driven overall tobacco use among high school students to the highest level in 19 years.

These survey results put policy makers on notice that they will be held responsible if they fail to take the bold action needed to reverse this epidemic and prevent e-cigarettes from addicting a generation of kids. The Trump Administration, Congress and states and cities must act now to prohibit the flavored products that are fueling this crisis.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids