Youth Vaping On The Rise In Hawaii, Reports Data

Across the Aloha State, numbers related to vaping among youth are on the rise.

Local media reports that high schoolers in Hawaii are vaping more, amid the pandemic and the consistent popularity of e-cigarettes and vapes.

The rate of daily vaping has doubled over two years.

Cigarette and alcohol use has dropped, though. Statewide numbers show that 30.6 percent of all tested public high school students said they used a vaping product at least once in the past 30 days. 

That rate is up from 25.5 percent, reported in 2017.

The results are the latest from a youth substance abuse survey, conducted in collaboration with the Hawaii State Department of Health, the University Hawaii at Manoa, and data provided to the state by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other U.S. Department of Health and Human Services youth behavior surveys.

“The Department of Health is pleased that new survey data shows improvements in many important health risk behavior areas,” said Lola Irvin, the administrator of the Health Department’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division.

“However, the continued rise in youth use of electronic cigarettes reminds us that there is still work to be done and the importance of working with partners to ensure that policies and programs are in place to change the trajectory of this critical health risk behavior,” Irvin said.

The Associated Press noted that 12,000 students across the state took the survey during the 2019 academic year.

The survey is conducted at Hawaii’s various public school systems.

According to the agency, Hawaii’s YRBS survey is the state’s contribution to the federal Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey managed by the CDC.