COLUMBUS – A new survey finds e-cigarettes are growing in popularity in Ohio, leading to concerns about whether they are encourage young people to light up.
About half of young adults in Ohio said they had tried an e-cigarette, as did nearly 30 percent of adults, up from about 19 percent of adults in 2016, according to data released by the Cincinnati-based foundation Interact for Health.
While some contend that e-cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes because they do not contain toxins but others say they still contain nicotine, which is addictive, and could be a gateway to cigarettes containing tobacco, says Dr. O’dell Moreno Owens, the foundation’s president and CEO.
“For some people, it’s part of that social scene, part of that coolness about smoking with the misconception that e-cigarettes is not harmful, but once people get into that pattern and want more nicotine, then they have to go to stronger tobacco products,” he said.
Owens says most smokers begin by the age of 18, and people who have never smoked before the age of 25 are much less likely to start, so he favors a higher tax on e-cigarettes and raising the legal smoking age to 21 as youth tobacco prevention measures.
“So if we can get that age to 21 and get that individual time to become an adult and understand more about life and their health, they might make better choices,” he said.
The poll also found 6 in 10 Ohio adults are in favor of taxing e-cigarettes at rate similar to the tax on tobacco cigarettes.