About 6.9 million Americans were current users of
e-cigarettes in 2017, according to data in the 2017 National Health Interview
Survey, the source for CDC national smoking estimates. That’s a million fewer vapers than the prior year,
and over two million fewer than in 2014, the first year NHIS surveyed for
vaping.
The number of current vapers who were former smokers had
increased through 2016, but dropped in 2017, from 2.62 to 2.3 million. This is not good news for tobacco harm
reduction.
Another fascinating detail from 2017 is that 1.17 million
never smokers currently used e-cigs, and over two-thirds of those were 18-24
years old. This may be an extension of
the recent increase in high school vaping (here), but it’s important to note that smoking in this
age group is way down (here).
Vaping has been portrayed as a menacing new epidemic by tobacco
and nicotine prohibitionists in government and elsewhere. It now appears that the misinformation in
their anti-vaping messages has been effective (here). The number of vapers has tragically declined.
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