Purpose of e-cigs distorted
Teen vaping, which has been deemed an epidemic by the surgeon general, has created a misconception around the real purpose of e-cigarettes, people in the industry say.
“We’ve lost sight of the advantages of these products for adult smokers because of so much hysteria about how harmful this is to youth,” Boston University professor Michael Siegel, MD, said. “Electronic cigarettes are helping so many adult smokers to save their lives — literally — by giving them an alternative to deadly cigarettes.”
The staggering number of teens using e-cigarettes can be seen both statewide and nationally. In 2017, 20.1 percent of high schoolers in Massachusetts reported using e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days, according to the Department of Public Health.
During 2011-15, e-cigarette use increased 900 percent among U.S. high school students before declining in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There was no change in 2017, followed by a 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use between 2017 and 2018. Numbers among middle school students rose 48 percent between 2017 and 2018 as well.
JUUL, which holds over 70 percent of the market share according to a Wells Fargo analyst, showed a 641 percent increase in sales from 2016 to 2017, a JAMA research letter shows. Representatives from JUUL declined to comment.
Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, MD, MPH, who is concerned about teen usage, noted that e-cigarettes have now surpassed conventional cigarettes as the most commonly used tobacco product among youth.
“We need to make sure everyone understands the risks and potential harm caused by these products,” Bharel said. “I’m proud that Massachusetts has raised the age for purchase of tobacco, including e-cigarettes, to 21 and our Administration has proposed a tax on these products.”
A recent report from the New England Journal of Medicine showed that e-cigarettes are twice as effective as any FDAapproved smoking cessation device, but both Siegel and David Bershad, owner of Vape Daddy’s Inc, a retail vape chain, are concerned that the issue has given e-cigarettes a bad rap.
“I don’t think people really understand what we’re trying to do with vaping,” Bershad said. “We don’t want to hook anybody on nicotine. Nicotine is the addictive part of cigarettes, that’s one of the big problems with cigarettes once they get you started smoking. You’ve got to fight nicotine addiction, which is pretty serious. It’s very hard to quit. We’re trying to give people a less dangerous alternative.”
E-cigarettes allow smokers who are trying to quit to monitor their nicotine intake and adjust their dosage gradually, according to Bershad. An exsmoker himself, Bershad said one of the reasons why vaping is as successful as it is, is because the act of vaping mimics that of smoking.