PROVIDENCE – Fewer Providence teenagers report using e-cigarettes and flavored-tobacco products than do their peers from other Rhode Island cities following Providence’s 2013 tobacco sales restrictions, according to a recent report from the R.I. Department of Health.
Since July 2013, Providence has required local tobacco retail licenses and restricted the sale of flavored-tobacco products – any flavored product containing any tobacco or nicotine – in retail convenience stores, including gas stations, food markets and pharmacies, Ellen Cynar, director of the Providence Healthy Communities Office, told Providence Business News. Flavored-tobacco products are often available in child-friendly flavors such as strawberry, grape, bubble gum and cotton candy. The city also banned tobacco discounting and coupons. Survey data collected in 2016 showed:
The Most Undervalued Asset in Business: The Right Connection
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Private Office Advisor Engel & Volkers Oceanside www.DiSpiritoteam.com…
Learn More
- In Providence, 3.2 percent of teenagers reported using flavored-tobacco products within the past 30 days (current use), while 3.9 percent reported current use of e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine-delivery devices.
- In neighboring Cranston, 7.6 percent of teens reported current use of flavored-tobacco products, while 7.7 percent reported use of e-cigarettes or ENDS products.
- In Woonsocket, flavored-tobacco products were reportedly used by 12.7 percent of teenagers, while e-cigarettes or ENDS products were used by 14.4 percent of teenagers.
This is the first time that city-specific tobacco-use data are being compared in Rhode Island.
“Providence’s policies that restrict tobacco sales were very likely a significant factor in the city’s lower rate of tobacco use among teenagers,” DOH Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said in a statement. “By standing up to the big tobacco companies that continue to target youth and lower-income communities with their dangerous, highly addictive products, Providence is establishing a model that can be replicated in every other city and town in the state.”
“[W]e’re pleased to see the impact of our tobacco-control efforts, including restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco,” Cynar said in the statement. “The more we can reduce Providence youth initiation of tobacco and nicotine products early on, the less likely they are to be addicted down the road.”
Like other tobacco products, most e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine use by children and teenagers is particularly harmful, as it can damage the developing brain and result in lifelong addiction. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death, annually killing 480,000 people in the United States, including 1,800 Rhode Islanders. Most adult smokers get addicted to tobacco use during adolescence.
Nationally, 24 percent of high school students report current use of e-cigarettes. Of U.S. middle school and high school tobacco users, 70 percent had used at least one flavored product in the past 30 days. While teenage use of some tobacco products continues to decline, more young people are turning to other highly addictive tobacco products, like hookahs and ENDS products, which are also available in candy-like, child-friendly flavors. In a 2014 national study of 12-17-year-olds, the majority of those surveyed who tried tobacco had first used a flavored-tobacco product.
In Rhode Island, cigarette use among high school teens declined from 8 percent in 2013 to 4.8 percent in 2015 – the nation’s lowest youth smoking rate, DOH reported. Nevertheless, 27 percent of all youth in Rhode Island in 2015 used some type of tobacco product (cigarettes, cigars, smokeless, hookah or e-cigarettes). In Rhode Island, ENDS products (i.e. e-cigarettes or “vaping” devices) were the most commonly used tobacco product within the prior 30 days (about 19 percent), followed by hookahs (nearly 12 percent). One session of hookah smoking can have the impact of up to 200 cigarettes.
The data was generated from two 2016 surveys of teenagers – the Rhode Island Student Survey and the Annie E. Casey Evidence to Success Youth Experience Survey.
The DOH encouraged parents and educators to promptly address teen tobacco use and, if needed, contact the child’s pediatrician or school nurse for age-appropriate tobacco-cessation support.
It is illegal in Rhode Island to sell any tobacco product to anyone under 18, including e-cigarettes, ENDS products, customized “vaping” devices, e-liquids and related components. In August 2016, U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulations banned online sales of all tobacco products to anyone under 18, as well as free sample giveaways and marketing claims related to smoking-cessation benefits without prior FDA authorization.
In related news, hundreds of Rhode Island teens held a May 31 Kick Butts Zombie Walk and mannequin challenge across Providence, to encourage leaders to raise the legal age to 21 to buy tobacco products in any form and to take additional steps to help prevent tobacco-related disease and deaths.
The events, held on World No Tobacco Day, allowed participating teens from across Rhode Island to exercise leadership and activism skills, while creating ghoulish costumes to show how devastating tobacco use can be. They were sponsored by the national Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the American Heart Association, Tobacco Free Rhode Island and the DOH, with additional support provided by the Truth Initiative and R.I.P. Productions.
Nancy Kirsch is a PBN contributing writer.
