E-cigarette use is skyrocketing.
http://www.teenvogue.com/story/vaping-tobacco-popularity
The good news is that cigarettes are out these days. The bad news is that tobacco in general is still in.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, millions of kids are now smoking e-cigarettes, leaving the more traditional tobacco products behind. In 2015, around 3 million middle and high school kids used e-cigarettes. That number has grown significantly, according to the CDC, since 2011.
In 2015, about 4.7 million middle and high school students had used tobacco products in the 30 days prior to the National Youth Tobacco Survey studied by the CDC. E-cigarettes were by far the most popular tobacco product with 3 million users, while 1.6 million students reported using traditional cigarettes. Around 1.4 million students had used cigars, 1.2 million used hookahs and 1.1 million used smokeless tobacco.
The number of high schoolers who smoke e-cigarettes has increased from 1.5% in 2011 to 16% in 2015. In 2014, though, e-cigarettes were also the most popular method of using tobacco, which means they’ve been pretty popular for at least a few years.
But, more kids smoking e-cigarettes doesn’t mean more kids overall are using tobacco. According to the CDC reports, there has been no significant change in the amount of students overall who report using tobacco. What’s interesting here is the CDC says educational campaigns about the risks of tobacco use are likely to thank for a reduction in cigarette smoking between 2011 and 2015, but e-cigarettes are probably the reason the number of kids consuming tobacco is still the same.
The CDC pays so much attention to the number of kids using tobacco because those early years are when addictions form.
“Nicotine exposure during adolescence, a critical period for brain development, can cause addiction, might harm brain development, and could lead to sustained tobacco product use among youths,” the CDC reports. In fact, they say 80% of adult smokers first tried smoking by age 18.
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, according to the CDC, which is why you shouldn’t try smoking in any form. Smoking can cause cancer, is bad for your skin and can cause a whole bunch of other nasty side effects. Studies have come back with mixed reports on whether or not e-cigarettes are any safer than regular ones, but the fact is that nicotine is still addictive no matter how you get it.
Your best bet is to avoid tobacco all together because no way of consuming it is totally safe.