E-cigarette use among youth in the US declined to the lowest level in a decade

CNN — Teens in the United States are far less likely to use e-cigarettes than they were a few years ago, but experts warn that any tobacco use among youth is unsafe — and now, the rise of nicotine pouches is a growing concern.

At the peak in 2019, more than 5 million students in middle and high school were using e-cigarettes. Now, about 1.6 million students – about 6% – currently use e-cigarettes, according to newly released survey data from the end of the first half of 2024. About half a million fewer students are now using e-cigarettes compared with last year — a nearly 25% drop in one year — bringing the rate down to the lowest it has been in a decade.

“While it’s encouraging to see these numbers currently remaining relatively low, the bottom line is that we are concerned about any youth appealing tobacco product,” Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. “Our guard is up. We are aware of the reported growing sales trends for nicotine pouches and are closely monitoring the evolving tobacco product landscape for threats to public health, particularly when it comes to kids.”

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