Raising Vaping Age May Increase Teen Smoking - Tech Times

Age restriction on vaping may actually increase teen smoking rate. Adolescents in states that don’t impose age restrictions on purchasing e-cigarettes have been found to be likelier to quit traditional smoking because electronic substitutes are available.
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Raising vaping age may give rise to more teens smoking, a new study has found.

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine suggest that imposing age restrictions to people who could legally purchase electronic nicotine devices (ENDS) may unintentionally boost teen smoking.

"We should regulate tobacco products proportionate to their risks, and e-cigarette evidence suggests they're less risky products," says study author Dr. Michael Pesko, "While there's some risk, it would be a mistake to regulate them the same way we regulate cigarettes."

The Popularity of E-cigarettes

Statistics show that e-cigarettes are now more popular than conventional cigarettes among teenagers. In a 2014 study by the University of Michigan, 13.4 percent of teens chose e-cigarettes and only 9.2 percent chose traditional cigarettes.

The popularity of e-cigarettes may be attributed to claims that vaping is less hazardous to health than traditional tobacco smoking. In a recent British government report, scientists say vaping is only 5 percent as harmful as cigarette. Despite this, e-cigarettes still carry some risks.

Having Age Restrictions

With the rise of studies showing that vaping do not come without health risks, 47 states have already set age restrictions when it comes to purchasing ENDS.

Pesko and colleagues think that these protocols may also have impacts on other related substance use. With this, they looked into whether ENDS are actually substitutes for marijuana and other tobacco products.

Vaping: Substitute For Related Substance Use

The team examined data about the 2007 to 2013 adolescent use of marijuana and tobacco from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. They particularly looked at whether age restrictions in vaping would result in teenagers resorting to other smoking options.

The results show that there was indeed a rise of 11.7 percent in teen cigarette smoking use after the state imposed age-restrictions on vaping.

Such finding may mean that e-cigarettes may serve as an alternative to traditional cigarettes among teenagers. For example, adolescents who live in a state without age restrictions on vaping are more likely to quit tobacco smoking than those who live in states where they cannot buy these electronic devices.

In the end, the authors say that their work suggests that it may be better to impose age restrictions on traditional cigarettes only and not on e-cigarettes.

The study was published in the journal Preventive Medicine on Thursday, March 10.


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I'm sure that kids who are smoking and don't want their parents to find out about it would always prefer to vape rather than smoke. Theres just so much less chance of being caught out and it would be far easier for them to hide their vaping kit or disguise it as something else. I still meet plenty of people, here in the UK, who don't know the first thing about vaping, they think its some kind of illegal drug I'm taking. As a society we have to try to protect children from nicotine addiction until they're legally responsible for themselves but if I had to see a child addicted to nicotine I would far prefer to see them vaping rather than smoking, if only for the smaller harm they are causing themselves. If vaping is prohibited for any group of people they are far more likely to turn to smoking, and banning children from buying tobacco has never stopped children smoking in any country that I'm aware of.

 

Well you think about it. Teenagers are all about rebellion. Teenagers love to go against their parent s wishes and the system that imposes laws ans regulations. So it makes perfect sense that there will be more violators of these smoking laws. I don't see how they will be able to control it as vaping leaves no smell after effects.

 

That will never help. Teens are teens. They will always search for the ways to slip through the cracks. I guess, I'd be fine If smoking age was 21 and vaping age... like 18, you know. Not sure on that, though.

 

Exactly, the same thing happens to me. Most of the people think vaping is some kind of drug addiction and acts as if a smoker is better than a drug addict. I don't know what to say about their ignorance. Regarding the age limit, I think whatever the age limit be, vaping should have a lower limit then smoking

 

Absolutely, I know that when I was a teenager and started smoking, I made great efforts not to let my parents know, as they were both ex-smokers who had always lectured me as a child not to smoke. Add in the fact that vaping is considerably cheaper than smoking and it becomes far more likely that children who are too young to smoke will turn to vaping instead. Lawmakers should be realistic about the subject and realise that merely raising the legally permitted age for people to vape isn't going to do much practical good.

 

More and more teens prefer to vape than to smoke and vaping has (currently) been shown to be safer than smoking. So what a great idea to ban something that teens will do anyway and instead of giving them the safer option lets help them fuck their lungs.