E-Cigarettes

E-Cigarettes have become very popular with our youth. It appears there were claims that the e-cigs may help decrease the use of regular cigarettes in teens, new research is revealing it may actually be increasing addiction to nicotine. A study done on U.S. middle and high school students revealed that e-cig users were 7 times more likely to be current smokers than others who had not used e-cigs. E-cigs are battery operated cigarettes which use nicotine that is vaporized and inhaled. The study found that in 2011 3.1 % of teens had tried e-cigs. One year later the rate increased to 6.5% of teens had tried e-cigs. They conclude, “Use of e-cigarettes does not discourage, and may encourage, conventional cigarette use among US adolescents.” This study supports our efforts to continue to provide the most effective relapse prevention interventions and to apply those to nicotine should an individual have the desire to discontinue their use after finding it actually increases use. This is an additional opportunity to help those around us not just with alcohol and drug use, but also for nicotine.

e-Cigs No Deterrent, Likely Contributor, to Teen Smoking, Medscape. Mar 06, 2014.