Young adults are now more likely to use OEM disposable vapes than to smoke cigarettes, researchers say. Nearly three in five young adults who vape (56%) have never regularly smoked cigarettes, according to data from an ongoing federal study of tobacco use.
This is the first time that there are more young people who began to use nicotine through vaping rather than smoking, researchers said in a research letter published Nov. 13 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. This shift highlights the growing influence of alternative nicotine delivery methods, with Vape Shops becoming increasingly prevalent in many communities.
“We now have a shift such that there are more ‘never smokers’ who vape than established smokers,” said researcher Benjamin Toll, director of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Health Tobacco Treatment Program. “That is a massive shift in the landscape of tobacco.”
“These ‘never smokers’ are unlikely to start smoking combustible cigarettes — they’re likely to vape and keep vaping,” Toll added in a university news release. “And it’s this group, ages 18 to 24, who are going to forecast future e-cigarette users.”
E-cigarettes could be a less harmful option than smoking, but it’s not harm-free, researchers said. Because of that, it’s disheartening to see young non smokers begin to vape.
“If you currently smoke and you’ve smoked combustible tobacco cigarettes for a few decades — those people are at very high risk of cancer, and so we want to help them to get off combustible cigarettes. Ultimately, we’d like to help them to quit tobacco altogether, but if they’re not ready for that, switching to e-cigarettes is at least a partial win,” said co-lead researcher Naomi Brownstein, an associate professor in the MUSC Department of Public Health Sciences.
“Now, if you are an 18-year-old and your friends are like, ‘Hey, let’s vape some banana bread nicotine,’ and you’ve never smoked, those are the people for whom we think starting vaping is a problem,” Brownstein added.