“Cigarette use generally declined between 2002 and 2018 across all age groups. Some of this decline may reflect the use of electronic vaporizing devices (‘vaping’), such as e-cigarettes, as a substitute for delivering nicotine.”
The survey data indicate that contrary to the current widespread fear that vaping could be addicting a whole new generation to smoking all over again, cigarette consumption among teenagers, young adults, and the general population, actually continues to decline. Additionally, in line with similar claims by other studies, the report on the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), points out that actually e-cigarettes may be contributing to the downward trend in smoking.
“Fewer than 1 in 6 people aged 12 or older in 2018 were past month cigarette smokers,” notes the SAMHSA report. “Cigarette use generally declined between 2002 and 2018 across all age groups. Some of this decline may reflect the use of electronic vaporizing devices (‘vaping’), such as e-cigarettes, as a substitute for delivering nicotine.”
The NYTS report had indicated a similar pattern
These declining smoking rates are in line with the hypothesis that the increase in vaping is leading to a long-term decline in smoking among teenagers and young adults. Citing data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) showing an increase in e-cigarette use by teenagers last year, led to the FDA calling e-cigarette use an “epidemic”.
However, the NYTS had also indicated that the smoking rate among teenagers stayed about the same in last year’s NYTS, whilst it continued to drop amongst 10th- and 12th-graders in the Monitoring the Future Study, and the NSDUH results are indicating a similar trend. This report has confirmed that contrary to fear based allegations, scientific reports keep indicating the potential of vaping for harm reduction and smoking cessation.
US: Another Study Indicating that Vaping is Slashing Youth Smoking Rates
