Cigarette use drops among teens, but e-cigarettes prove tempting

Cigarette smoking by high school students in Minnesota has sharply declined, according to the latest state health survey.

But the 2014 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey found that more than a quarter of high school students have tried electronic cigarettes.

Public health officials say e-cigarette devices are exposing thousands of students in Minnesota to addictive nicotine, which could increase their interest in trying traditional tobacco products.

According to the survey, the percent of high school students who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days fell to 10.6 percent in 2014. That compares to 18.1 percent in 2011, the last time the survey was conducted.

"This is tremendous progress that follows several Minnesota actions to decrease youth smoking," Minnesota Commissioner of Health Ed Ehlinger said.

Ehlinger said the higher tobacco taxes have made smoking unaffordable for many teenagers. He also credited tougher restrictions on tobacco sales, which includes the requirement that all tobacco products be sold behind the counter.

But the survey's good news about smoking was tempered by some potentially bad news about electronic cigarettes.

For the first time, the survey asked students if they had ever used the battery-operated nicotine delivery devices, which were introduced to the U.S. market in 2007.

Ehlinger said 28 percent of high school students in this year's survey said they have tried an e-cigarette, and 12.9 percent of students said they had used one in the past 30 days.

"E-cigarettes arrived in Minnesota in a significant way only a few years ago," he said. "And already more than a quarter of high school students — nearly 90,000 students — have already tried e-cigarettes."

E-cigarettes appeal to some teenagers because they are hard to detect, said Kendra Roedl, a 16-year-old Minneapolis South High School junior who attended the health department's news conference.

"The vapor, it's not as easy to smell. Your mom won't smell it when you get home," said Roedl, who is a member of the Minneapolis Youth Congress, which advises public agencies on youth issues. "You can use them a lot of places without being realized. I've been at football games and people are passing them around."

It's illegal to sell e-cigarettes to minors in Minnesota. But some students lie about their age when ordering e-cigarettes off of websites, or they buy the devices from older students or siblings, Roedl said.

"I was just scrolling my Facebook news feed last night and somebody's status was like 'who wants to buy an e-cig from me?'" she said. "So it's a lot easier than people think."

Cap O'Rourke, a lobbyist with the Independent Vapor Retailers of Minnesota, said his members are concerned about the rise in e-cigarette use among teens. But he said young people are often the first to experiment with anything new, and e-cigarettes are a new technology.

"The big question is, what is the 30-day use and what's actually the three-day use? How many kids are using these as a regular substitute? And hopefully they're not," he said. "That's our goal."

O'Rourke notes that the health department's survey acknowledges that it's possible that some e-cigarette users just may have been trying out the devices and may not continue using them.

However, he said his organization was willing to work with the state to come up with sensible regulations on e-cigarettes in light of the youth tobacco report's findings.

"It is not our goal to sell to minors," he said.

Ehlinger said the health department is still working on its priorities for the 2015 Legislative session. But he said adding restrictions on e-cigarette advertising and marketing would be one possible strategy his agency would support.