June 27, 2022
Monitoring the Future and Richard Miech cited in Senate Majority Whip’s investigation of youth vaping
From Senator Dick Durbin’s press release:
Following an investigation by U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) of multiple health surveys and retail sales data, Durbin announced findings that more than 750,000 children have started to use e-cigarettes over the last nine months, in the period of time during which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has defied a court order to regulate all e-cigarettes on the market. This examination was based upon data from the National Institute of Health’s Monitoring the Future survey data of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in 2020 and 2021. The findings were also informed by 2022 survey results from Truth Initiative’s longitudinal cohort study of youth who report initiation of e-cigarettes, as well as data from the CDC Foundation and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids on retail sales of e-cigarettes between 2020-2022. Richard Miech said,
Nicotine vaping is now one of the most common forms of substance use among U.S. adolescents, second only to alcohol. Of the approximately 793,969 new adolescent initiates to nicotine vaping each year, many will become addicted, particularly with the high concentrations of nicotine in many of today’s vaping devices. With the return to school buildings in 2021-22 students had greater exposure to peer pressure to vape, more access to friends who could provide vaping devices, and more opportunity to try vaping free from parental supervision.