PACT Notes

A new study found that increases in adolescent vaping from 2017 to 2018 were the largest ever recorded in the past 43 years for any adolescent substance use outcome in the U.S.

In just one year e-cigarette use among youth has skyrocketed, increasing by:
90% among 12th graders
96% among 10th graders
74% among 8th graders

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark 1998 legal settlement between the states and the tobacco companies, which required the companies to pay more than $200 billion over time as compensation for tobacco-related health care costs.

The report challenges states to do more to fight tobacco use – the nation’s No. 1 preventable cause of death – and to confront the growing epidemic of youth e-cigarette use in America. In Pennsylvania, 8.7 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes, while 11.3 percent use e-cigarettes. Tobacco use claims 22,000 Pennsylvania lives and costs the state $6.3 billion in health care bills annually.

The CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health released an article in the Journal, Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Their study found that people living with mental health conditions are more likely to smoke cigarettes than people without these conditions, and are also likely to smoke more often, be more dependent on nicotine, have stronger withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit, and be overall less successful in quitting. This study shows that cigarette smokers with mental health conditions had increased quit attempts after reporting having seen the TV ad featuring Tips participant Rebecca, a former smoker living with depression.