Teens are trying — but failing — to quit vaping nicotine, new research shows

“If anything, concerns about the level of addiction have been understated,” Myers said. “This demonstrates that kids trying to quit e-cigarettes are failing at levels we haven’t seen in years.”

The research, from the University of Michigan’s annual Monitoring the Future survey, comes at a pivotal time in nicotine regulation in the United States. Congress earlier this month adopted legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration new, explicit authority over synthetic nicotine, which is made in a laboratory and is increasingly used in e-cigarettes, particularly sweet and fruit-flavored products popular with young people.