Why Youth Nicotine Use Is An Important Issue

Dear Editor,

Faced with declines in cigarette use – the youth smoking rate dropped from nearly 23 percent in 2000 to an all-time low of 2.3 percent in 2021 – the commercial tobacco industry has expanded its product offerings to include flashy e-cigarettes, flavored nicotine-containing products such as oral nicotine pouches and lozenges, and the heated tobacco device IQOS, dramatically changing the product landscape.

Companies have also begun to use synthetic nicotine– created in a laboratory and not derived from tobacco – raising regulatory challenges and health concerns.

Meanwhile, combustible cigarettes are still marketed aggressively with trillions consumed each year around the world.

Sincerely,

Valley County Tobacco Education Specialist Teri Meche

For more information, contact her at 406-228-6261.

Article information is from Truth Initiative. Truth Initiative is America's largest nonprofit public health organization committed to making tobacco use and nicotine addiction a thing of the past.