WASHINGTON – A new report released last week by the Centers for Disease (CDC) showed that 13% of middle- and high school students used electronic cigarettes in 2014 – triple the number from the year before. At the same time, the share of high school students who smoked traditional cigarettes declined substantially, to 9% in 2014 from 16 in 2011, along with use of cigars and pipes as well.

The numbers seemed to come as a surprise to many and reignited the conversation regarding FDA regulation of e-cigarettes, which began last spring when the agency introduced its proposed rules on e-cigarettes. A month prior to the FDA’s announcement in April, NACS issued its own position on the sale of e-cigarettes. The statement read, in part:

• Retailers should, as a best practice, follow the same applicable federal, state and local laws for verifying the age of purchasers of tobacco and apply these standards for the sale of e-cigarettes.
• NACS will promote effective procedures for retailers to verify sales of age-restricted products and will encourage retailers to utilize these procedures and training tools.
• NACS will work with all appropriate federal organizations to ensure that convenience stores continue to play a leadership role in establishing guidelines that take into account current research related to the age-restricted products.

Because the CDC data shows an increase in e-cigarette use coinciding with a decline in traditional tobacco use, some have suggested that teens may be using e-cigarettes as a means of tobacco cessation, or are simply not taking up the traditional tobacco habit at all, preferring the increasingly popular “vaping.”

“The CDC should really be jumping for joy at the fact that smoking rates are declining. This is a huge success,” Michael Siegel, a professor and tobacco control specialist at Boston University’s School of Public Health, told the Washington Post.

Despite the possible silver linings, there remains the significant problem of minors gaining access to age-restricted tobacco products. The proliferation of so-called vape shops and equipment for sale online has made access easy, and teenagers have told news outlets that they simply clicked a button to indicate they were over 18 to be able to order an e-cigarette starter kit. As always, and per NACS’ policy on e-cigarette use, we are continuing to work closely with We Card and our community of retailers to insure that e-cigarette sales continue to be conducted the same as any other age-restricted product.