YSPH study finds Banning E-Cigarette Sales to Minors Spurs Conventional Smoking

More than 40 states have banned the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, however a brand new study from the Yale School of Public Health indicates that these measures have an unintentional and dangerous consequence: increasing adolescents’ use of normal cigarettes.

Using information from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the research finds that state bans on e cigarette sales to minors afford a 0.9 percentage point increase in speeds of recent standard smoke use by 12 to 17 year olds, relative to states without these bans.

“Normal smoke use continues to be dropping somewhat steadily among this age group considering that the start of the 21st century. “In other words, as a consequence of the bans, more teens are using conventional cigarettes than otherwise might have done so.”

 As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speeds of e cigarette use by high and middle school pupils tripled between 2014 and 2013. “To understand the public health implications of this increase in e cigarette use,” said Friedman, “we must know how e-cigarettes impact standard smoke use. This paper provides key evidence on that issue.”

 This middle ground solution may give a means to reduce adolescent smoking while the long-term effects of vaping, still mainly unknown, are being discovered.

“Policy makers have been assuming that banning e cigarette sales to minors will enhance public health. This paper’s finding, that these bans raise standard smoke smoking among teens, suggests that we may have to rethink this decision,” she said. 

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