This brief report highlights trends in national e-cigarette sales from January 2017 to March 2021.
E-Cigarette Use
• The 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), released in September 2020, showed that current e-cigarette use was 19.6% among high school students and 4.7% among middle school students. Although these data show a decline since 2019 when e-cigarette use among youth peaked (at 27.5% and 10.5%, respectively), 3.6 million U.S. youth still currently used e-cigarettes in 2020, and more than 8 in 10 used flavored e-cigarettes
Federal Legislative and Regulatory Initiatives
• Flavors: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an enforcement policy, effective February 2020, prohibiting the sale of flavored prefilled cartridges e-cigarettes, such as Juul and Vuse. This policy does not apply to tobacco-and menthol-flavored prefilled cartridges, e-liquids, or single use disposable products, such as Puff Bar and Mojo, which are available in a wide array of flavors.
• Sales Restrictions: On December 20, 2019, a federal law was passed to raise the minimum age of sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21 years.
Other Relevant Issues
• Between August 2019 and January 2020, federal, state, and local public health entities investigated a national outbreak of e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI).
• Since March 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been affecting schools and businesses, including retail stores that sell e-cigarettes.
State and Local Legislative Initiatives
• As of March 2021, five states and over 300 local jurisdictions have enacted laws that prohibit sales of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes
2021-06-10.
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