Connecticut and Hawaiian teens use e-cigarettes at alarming rates
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Time Magazine and USA Today reported on two new studies conducted in 2013 that show teens are using e-cigarettes at alarming rates. On December 15, 2014 the journal Pediatrics published a study showing that 29% of Hawaiian 1,941 high school students had used e-cigarettes: 17% only smoked e-cigarettes and 12% smoked both e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. 3% smoked only traditional cigarettes, and 68% did not smoke at all. The Hawaiian researchers noted that e-cigarettes are marketed in places frequented by teens, such as malls and movie theaters, and that Hawaiian teens surveyed saw e-cigarettes as a healthier than traditional cigarettes. 15% of the Hawaiian teens had tried traditional cigarettes, 47% had tried alcohol and 18% had tried marijuana.
The journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research published a study showing that 25% of Connecticut teens had used e-cigarettes. 3,614 high school students and 1,166 middle school students were surveyed. 51.2% of middle school students who use e-cigarettes reported that e-cigarettes was their first tobacco product that they had tried.