Published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Results of an annual assessment of various health-related behaviors among U.S. adults. Tobacco control advocates have reason to celebrate. Adult smoking rates are at record lows, and young adult smoking rates are nearly non-existent in some states.
Only 12.1% of adults in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., smoked in 2023, down from 14% in 2022, according to BRFSS. This decline means the number of smokers will fall from 36.4 million in 2022 to 31.7 million in 2023. Approximately 4.7 million. The decline was even more pronounced among young people aged 18 to 24, with only 5.6% smoking in 2023, down 23.5% from 2022 and a dramatic 76.5% decline over the past decade.
Inaction and sporadic enforcement efforts by federal agencies have perpetuated false perceptions about the product being less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
Tobacco control advocates blame these historic lows on taxes, smoke-free policies and other policies, but increased use of e-cigarettes also appears to correlate with lower smoking rates. From 2016 to 2023, youth e-cigarette use increased by 90% and smoking rates decreased by 63.8%. Interestingly, e-cigarette use rates among young adults are also starting to decline, decreasing by 23.5% from 20.9% in 2022 to 18.9% in 2023.
Some states, such as Utah and New York, have exceptionally low rates of smoking among young adults at 2.6% and 3.4%, respectively. Even Oklahoma, which has the highest rate of smoking among young adults at 9.1%, is still significantly lower than the national adult average of 12.1%.
These trends extend to youth smoking and vaping statistics as well. According to the CDC's National Youth Tobacco Survey, only 1.6% of middle and high school students in the United States reported currently using tobacco. in 2023. E-cigarette use among young people has also decreased significantly. 5.9% of U.S. youth will smoke e-cigarettes this year — a 70.5% decrease compared to 2019, when 20% used e-cigarettes. In just five years, the number of young people in America who use e-cigarettes has gone from 1 in 5 to 1 in 20.
Despite these positive trends, many tobacco control advocates continue to push for stricter policies and higher taxes, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is slow to approve new tobacco harm reduction products. There is. This contributes to public misconceptions about the relative risks of these products compared to traditional cigarettes.
Many organizations, including the American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and the Truth Initiative, acknowledge that youth e-cigarette use has declined significantly, but remain concerned about the frequency of use among current users. and specifically criticizes flavored tobacco and vapor products.
of Ara Describing e-cigarettes as a “serious public health concern”, CTFK Stresses that youth e-cigarette use “remains a serious public health problem” and urges federal agencies, including the FDA and the U.S. Department of Justice, to step up efforts to eliminate all illegal e-cigarettes; We are calling for an end to this “crisis.” market. Similarly, truth initiative argue that “nicotine addiction among young people remains a serious public health concern.''
All of these organizations criticize flavored products, even though these flavors are used in innovative tobacco harm reduction products to help adults maintain their abstinence. These groups are also focusing on new oral nicotine pouches, even though less than 2% of young people report using such products.
These groups are not alone. Inaction and sporadic enforcement efforts by federal agencies have perpetuated false perceptions about the product being less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
Since 2015, the FDA has issued only 56. marketing orders Since 2012, the FDA has approved only 34 e-cigarette products for sale, even though it has approved more than 16,000 other tobacco products. By contrast, in 2023, government agencies ordered more than 660 combustible cigarettes, even as smoking rates among American adults declined. This difference probably affects the following causes confusion in the world On the relative health benefits of e-cigarettes.
Policy makers and tobacco control organizations should recognize and celebrate the historic decline in tobacco use among both adults and youth. This is an important public health outcome that could be driven by the availability of tobacco harm reduction products such as e-cigarettes and oral nicotine pouches.
Rather than resisting market trends and products associated with significant declines in smoking rates, these organizations advocate for increased access to these alternatives to eliminate the use of combustible cigarettes once and for all. Should.
