If you ask high school students in the USif they have smoked a cigar in the past 30 days, almost 8% will say yes (assuming the person asking them is not a parent, but a survey taker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
But what is perhaps even more surprising than the image of a 14-year-old clutching a Cuban cigar is the fact that they are now just as likely to be holding a cigar as a cigarette. Since 2011, the percentage of high schoolers who smoke cigarettes has more than halved, falling to just 8%. Despite that, the use of products containing nicotine is on the rise among young people for one simple reason: vaping.
In the span of just one year, the proportion of high school students vaping, or smoking e-cigarettes, has jumped from 12% to 21% (for middle schoolers, it also rose from 3% to 5%).
Like so many US trends, these averages mean little without taking into account race and ethnicity. E-cigarette use is highest among white high school students (one in four of whom will vape) followed by Hispanic students (one in seven) and finally black students (just one in 13 use e-cigarettes).
On Tuesday, a Kansas resident died from a vaping-related illness. This was the sixth such death reported nationwide after a mysterious vaping-related lung illness involving at least 450 possible cases in 33 states. States and federal authorities believe that the likely cause is contaminants or counterfeit substances found in the e-cigarettes.
Donald Trump’s administration is now considering some form of ban on vaping.
