Smoking in United States of America
In the United States of America, smoking is allowed but tobacco products should follow some regulations. Under these regulations, health warnings on tobacco packaging including cigarettes are mandatory, the minimum legal age for their sales is 21 years, and there are no federal legal restrictions on smoking in public places. While tobacco advertising is regulated, not all forms of their advertising are banned. An excise tax of 32.16% with a total taxation rate of 37.36% is applied on cigarettes. Cigarettes can legally be sold with authorised documents. They may also be purchased through vending machines as well as through online channels. Importing cigarettes for trade is allowed with an appropriate import license. Despite these control measures, prevalence data show that smoking remains an important public health issue in the United States. There were 39.8 million current smokers in the country in 2024. This represents an overall adult smoking prevalence of 14.1%, with higher prevalence among men (17.1%) than among women (11.1%). In comparison, the overall current smoking prevalence was 12.3% in 2022. The adult daily smoking prevalence was recorded to be 10.01% in 2020. Smoking-related mortality also remains significant in the country. In 2021, smoking resulted in 360,370 deaths, including 216,986 male deaths and 143,383 female deaths. This shows that smoking accounted for 10.38% of all deaths in the United States in 2021, with a higher rate among men (11.9%) than among women (8.7%).
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December 18, 2019 by theguardian.com
US teens may be barred from buying vape pens and cigarettes
Congress is moving to pass the biggest new sales restrictions on tobacco products in more than a decade, with support from two unlikely backers: the Marlboro cigarette maker, Altria, and the vaping giant Juul.
The legislation would raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, from 18 to 21 nationwide [...] “Altria and Juul clearly support this in order to argue that no other action is necessary,” said Matthew Myers [...] “If you don’t eliminate the flavors that the industry has used to fuel the epidemic, you won’t solve the youth e-cigarette crisis.”
December 13, 2019 by cnn.com
Illinois sues Juul, alleging it targeted minors with its sleek, easily concealed e-cigarette
Illinois is the latest state to file a lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul, alleging the company undid "years of progress made to reduce youth smoking rates."
The lawsuit, filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Thursday, alleges Juul used a "sleek, easy-to-conceal e-cigarette" combined with fruity flavors that masked a less harsh nicotine solution that it marketed to minors. Juul's e-cigarette device resembles a USB flash drive, can be charged via a USB port, and can be used discreetly, all features that make Juul's device more appealing to youth, according to the lawsuit. [...]
December 13, 2019 by youtube.com
PROHIBITION | How Drug War Tactics Could Crush Vaping | RegWatch (Live)
Every attempt to isolate a cause to explain the war on vaping faces its difficulties, as no cause is entirely defective in explanation, yet neither is any satisfyingly sufficient to explain the level of hysteria engulfing the nation. Clues are best found by examining similar phenomenon and terrifyingly, there’s no better example than the decades-long battle in the “War on Drugs.”
In this edition of RegWatch we’re joined by Ethan Nadelmann [...]
For decades Nadelmann led the fight to end the “War on Drugs,” so he knows all too well the dehumanizing, slanderous, coercive tactics used by moral crusaders. [...]
December 12, 2019 by medicalxpress.com
New York could try to keep alive flavored e-cigarette ban
New York's ban on flavored e-cigarettes is still held up in court but the state may try to keep it alive and expand it to include menthol. The state's Public Health and Health Planning Council is set to vote Thursday to keep the emergency ban on the books for another 90 days. The council had approved the ban in September but a state appeals court blocked the state from enforcing it in October.
Council members could also vote Thursday to ban menthol e-cigarette flavoring.
December 12, 2019 by ama-assn.org
Action needed now to prevent a new generation of nicotine addiction
Flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products are quickly erasing decades of progress in decreasing youth tobacco use. And, unless the Trump administration takes swift action, these products will lead to severe but entirely preventable health consequences for a new generation of Americans addicted to nicotine. Although vaping technology is too new to gauge its long-term effects on health, the immediate impact is stark: More than one-quarter of U.S. high school students, and one in 10 middle school students, have used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days [...]
December 11, 2019 by time.com
The D.C. Lawmaker Going Toe to Toe With Big Vape Never Planned to Be in This Fight
At a time when Washington, D.C. is paralyzed by partisan gridlock and impeachment hearings, it can be challenging for lawmakers to focus on their day jobs: lawmaking. But Raja Krishnamoorthi [...] has won bipartisan support for his efforts to curb young people’s use of e-cigarettes, as their surging popularity perpetuates a health crisis among the nation’s youth. [...] In October, he introduced a bill that would limit the amount of nicotine in vaping products, which he says is crucial to preventing children from getting addicted. “The forces of Big Tobacco and the e-cigarette industry are very powerful. [...]
December 11, 2019 by inquirer.net
Regulating e-cigs better for public health – harm reduction expert
Carrie Wade, Director of Harm Reduction Policy of think tank R Street Institute, told DZIQ Radyo Inquirer in an interview that regulating e-cigarettes is a “better pathway for public health” as “a ban would only create criminalization”.
She explained that in markets where e-cigarettes are not regulated, an opportunity for dangerous products to enter is created, similar to what has happened in the United States. America is currently gripped in a health scare due to a spate of deaths and over 2,000 lung injuries linked to the use of illicit drugs in e-cigarettes.
December 11, 2019 by vice.com
Here's More Evidence That Flavors Aren't the Reason Teens Vape
During a meeting Donald Trump held about the vaping epidemic in November, Mitt Romney suggested a reason for the spike in teenage usage: unicorn poop.
Trump had invited both critics and advocates for e-cigarettes to the gathering in a rare moment of civilized debate, as if he were actually looking to better understand the issue. He had been waffling for weeks about what to do, entertaining at one point a full-on ban of flavored vaping products, though his campaign staff reportedly talked him out of it, fearing that such a strategy could antagonize a chunk of his political base. [...]
December 11, 2019 by washingtonpost.com
FDA can regulate e-cigarettes just like conventional cigarettes, appeals court says
The Food and Drug Administration can regulate e-cigarettes like it does conventional cigarettes, an appeals court said Tuesday, finding that the products are “indisputably highly addictive and pose health risks, especially to youth, that are not well understood.” [...] The issue for the court was whether the FDA has the authority to treat e-cigarettes as “tobacco products” and to subject the vaping products to the same set of rules and regulations as their conventional counterparts.
December 10, 2019 by medicalxpress.com
Young adults with ADHD are at higher risk for developing nicotine addiction
People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to self-administer nicotine and report more pleasurable responses than people without the condition, according to a study by Duke Health researchers. [...] Duke researchers tested a nicotine nasal spray to determine the effects of the addictive chemical on non-smoking young adults. They recruited 136 people aged 18-25 years. About half (61) of the participants had a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, and the others (75) were free from any psychiatric condition.