Newly Released Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey 2023 delivered a stunning vindication for tobacco harm reduction advocates, as youth cigarette smoking continued to be practically non-existent at 1.6%, while the number of students who tried an e-cigarette in a 30 day period fell 29% to just 10%. In 2011, the high school cigarette smoking rate was 18.1%.
“E-Cigarettes are proven to be 95% safer than combustible tobacco and are used by over 20 million adult Americans to either quit or reduce their smoking” said Tim Andrews, Director of Consumer Issues at Americans For Tax Reform. “All efforts should be made to keep reducing youth e-cigarette usage. However, the data clearly shows education and enforcement are already having a significant effect as fewer than 5% of students vape on a daily basis. To punish adult Americans through taxing and restricting access to a life-saving product endorsed by over 100 of the world’s leading medical organizations, for a non-existent “youth epidemic” as President Biden’s FDA is attempting to do, is profoundly immoral, and will lead to countless preventable deaths.”
A study by Georgetown University Medical Center found that if a majority of smokers in the United States switched to vaping, up to 6.6 million lives could be saved.
“This data also proves that the Biden Administration’s plans to introduce prohibition for menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars to stop youth using these products is based on a lie. Fewer than 0.6% of students smoked menthol cigarettes, and use of cigars fell from from 2.8% to 1.8% in the last year alone. To bring in a policy known to enrich criminal syndicates and black market smugglers, hurt small businesses, cause drain on state budgets, and create conflict between minorities and law enforcement in order to “protect youth” from a product they are not even using is policy madness”.