Smoking and Youth

Smoking has many health risks to everyone. However, the younger you start smoking, the more problems that it can cause. People who started smoking before 21 years old are the most difficult to stop smoking. Young people who smoke are also likely to use alcohol and illegal drugs

The problem is not just cigarettes. Smoke, electronic cigarettes, cigars are not safe substitutes for tobacco. Low tar and non-added cigarette products are also not safe

Prevalence of smoking in adolescence generally decreased, but menthol smoking rate in adolescence was stable between 2004 and 2014 (ref. 41). Compared to older smokers, adolescent smokers are much more likely to smoke menthol than non-healthy tobaccos, with 52.7% in 2014 young smokers aged 12-17, 50.5% with 18- 36.3% of young adult smokers aged 25 and 26 and adult smokers aged 26 and over report that they smoke menthol cigarettes (ref. 42). Many studies have shown that young smokers use more menthol and older smokers use less (Ref. 42-45).

The use of menthol cigarettes is higher among young people than young people and adults. Between 2008 and 2010, 57% of smokers aged 12 to 17 sucked menthol cigarettes, smokers had 35% smoking. In the following year, this gap continued to expand. When researchers looked at young smokers who smoked menthol cigarettes between 2012 and 2014, they found a 4 percentage point increase from 2008 to 2010. Black smokers report that smokers of all ages have the highest percentage of menthol cigarettes and nearly 80% of smokers who smoke are smoking mints. Previous research showed that the tobacco industry is strongly aiming for hawk alcohol marketing for African Americans facing a greater burden of tobacco related diseases.

Teen smoking data reveals the trend of the most uneasy drugs. Smoking rates in the general population have continued to decline in the past decade but the adolescent smoking rate has not decreased significantly (Johnston et al., 1991). From 1981 to 1990, the percentage of high school graduates who reported smoking last month remained unchanged (29%), during which the daily smoking rate dropped to only 1% (20% to 19%). Given the fatal consequences of smoking (that is, the number of preventable deaths per year), reducing youth smoking remains an important goal for many drug education initiatives.