Vaping Facts and Myths

Keeping Glen Cove SAFE: Vaping Facts and Myths

The SAFE Glen Cove Coalition is concerned about youth vaping use and its consequences. In vaping, a battery powered device called an e-cigarette heats a liquid into a vapor that can be inhaled. The vapor may contain nicotine (the addictive drug in tobacco), flavoring, and other chemicals. E-cigarettes can also be used with marijuana, hash oil, or other substances. Vaping may pose serious and avoidable health risks. Exposure to nicotine during youth can lead to addiction and cause long-term harm to brain development. The vapor can also contain toxins (including ones that cause cancer) and tiny particles that are harmful when breathed in.

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is one of the nation’s most relied upon scientific sources of valid information on trends in use of licit and illicit psychoactive drugs by U.S. adolescents, college students, young adults, and adults up to age 60. MTF is conducted each year by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

The MTF survey is given annually to students in eighth, 10^th, and 12^th grades who self-report their substance use behaviors over various time periods, such as past 30 days, past 12 months, and lifetime. The survey also documents students’ perception of harm, disapproval of use, and perceived availability of drugs and has been doing so since 1975.

Questions about use of the vaping device JUUL were not asked after 2022 because the FDA had removed them from the market at the time the 2022 survey was being prepared.

Prior to 2022, prevalence of the vaping device JUUL declined dramatically. Both past 12-month and past 30-day prevalence declined about 50% in just one year in all three grades from 2020 to 2021. This decline likely stemmed from both national policies aimed at reducing nicotine vaping prevalence among adolescents, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

One policy to reduce tobacco use in general is the “Tobacco 21” law, which went into force on December 20, 2019. This law raised the age of sale for all tobacco products in the United States from 18 to 21. It is specifically designed to reduce adolescent access to vaping devices and other tobacco products.

In addition, in 2020 the FDA placed restrictions on flavoring of cartridge-based vaping systems and banned flavors popular among adolescents such as mint and fruit. These restrictions went into force on February 7, 2020, four days before the first school was surveyed in MTF that year. This ban likely has had a continuing effect.

At the same time, these large declines took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing policies were implemented specifically to reduce social interactions outside of the home. These policies included school building closures, reductions and/or cancellations of after school group activities, and physical distancing policies requiring people to stay six feet from others. For many, these policies likely reduced adolescents’ access to vaping devices and cartridges, as well as their opportunities to use them free from adult supervision.

All results from 2020 are from surveys completed before March 15, 2020, when national social distancing policies were implemented and the survey halted due to pandemic concerns.

JUUL has since reentered the market. MTF includes JUUL as a response category in a brand-of-device question asked of adolescents who report vaping nicotine. Stand-alone questions specifically on JUUL will be utilized in the survey if its use among adolescents increases substantially in the coming years.

Vaping Cannabis

Vaping is a relatively new mode for cannabis use. It differs from combustible use because vaping solutions come in a variety of flavors, vaping delivers a higher concentration of THC (the active psychoactive ingredient in cannabis), and vaping is more readily concealable because it does not produce the distinctive odor associated with combustible use.

In 2025, the percentage of students who reported vaping cannabis in the past 12 months continued a decline over the past few years; none of the one-year declines in the three grades were statistically significant.

Large increases in cannabis vaping in previous years were not accompanied by increases in overall cannabis use. These results suggest that cannabis vaping is not increasing the number of adolescent cannabis users. It could substitute for combustible cannabis use, it could serve as a way for cannabis users to avoid detection by adults because it is easier to conceal, and/or it could be a way for users to supplement their combustible cannabis use.

Vaping Flavored Cannabis

Vaping flavored cannabis in the past 12 months declined in all grades from 2024 to 2025, and the decline was statistically significant in 8th grade. There were no significant changes from 2024 to 2025 in vaping flavored cannabis in the past 30 days or lifetime.

Across all grades, since measurement began in 2021, past 12-month use has followed an inverted U-shaped trend: prevalence rose sharply from 2021 to a peak in 2023, then declined in 2024 and 2025 to levels comparable to those observed at baseline in 2021. The increasing use from 2021 to 2023 was unusual because use of almost all other substances by adolescents held steady or decreased during this time period.

Vaping Flavoring

The percentage of youth who report that they vaped just flavoring was at or near record lows in 2025 in all grades for lifetime, past 12-month, and past 30-day use. In all grades, past 12-month prevalence in 2025 was more than half of its peak level in 2018. Daily vaping of just flavoring was at or below 2% in all grades and did not significantly change from 2024 to 2025.

Practically all youth who report vaping just flavoring also report vaping nicotine (as indicated by very low prevalence in the Vape Flavoring Without Nicotine tables and graphs). Most adolescents who vape just flavoring are doing so as a supplement to their nicotine vaping and not as a substitute for it.

Vaping Flavoring Without Nicotine

In 2017, MTF started asking students if they vaped just flavoring. A substantial prevalence of this outcome could raise at least two potential scenarios. First, it could be possible that a portion of youth believed they were not vaping nicotine when in fact they were. Second, if students truly were vaping only flavoring, then the recent large increases in adolescent vaping may be less alarming than it at first appeared—to the extent that adolescents are not being exposed to the addictive chemical nicotine.

These two potential scenarios are not supported by the results. The finding that in 2025 less than1% of students in all grades report vaping flavoring exclusively without nicotine in the past 30 days indicates that practically all students who report vaping just flavoring are also vaping nicotine.

Vaping Nicotine (E-cigarettes)

The percentage of students who vaped nicotine declined sharply from 2020 to 2021, coinciding with the onset of the pandemic, and continued to decrease in the subsequent years, after a very small rebound, for use in the past 12 months and lifetime. Vaping nicotine in the past 30 days edged upward in 2025, although not significantly so compared to 2024, in 10th and 12th grades.

Despite the recent declines in use, the prevalence of nicotine vaping by adolescents remains one of the highest among all substances. In 2025, its past 12-month prevalence level of 9% in 8th grade is second only to alcohol. Its prevalence of 20% in 12th grade and 14% in 10th grade ranks third behind alcohol and cannabis use. These high rankings largely reflect the steep surge in nicotine vaping between 2017 and 2019.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit https://www.nida.nih.gov/.

Resources and Data

Please see the following helpful links for information about the dangers of vaping:

American Lung Association: Tobacco Cessation Resources for Teens

United States Department of Health and Human Services: 2020 Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General

This report is the latest of a longstanding tradition of tobacco prevention and control efforts by USDHHS. Our work includes a comprehensive tobacco control strategic action plan, Ending the Tobacco Epidemic, and coordination of tobacco control efforts with related efforts by other federal agencies through the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health. Reports such as this one from the U.S. Surgeon General give the latest data on tobacco and health to scientists, healthcare professionals, and the public.

United States Environmental Protection Agency: How to Safely Dispose of E-Cigarettes: Information for Individuals | US EPA

Child Mind Institute: Teen Vaping: What Parents Need to Know

Know the Risks: E-Cigarettes & Young People

The Surgeon General declares Vaping a Pediatric Epidemic

National Center for Health Research: Is Vaping Safer than Smoking Cigarettes?

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): Teens and E-Cigarettes

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): Electronic Cigarette Facts

FDA Center for Tobacco Products: Vaping Misperceptions (Spanish Edition)

NYS Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Control: Percent of NYS HS Students Open to Smoking and Using e-Cigarettes

The New York State Department of Health released of a new BRFSS Brief: Electronic Cigarette Use. New York State Adults, 2017. In New York State (NYS) an estimated 541,000 adults, or 3.8% of the state’s adult population aged 18 years and older, currently use e-cigarettes every day or some days. Among NYS adults, current use of e-cigarettes is highest among:

Adults who are current smokers (12.8%)
Young adults 18-24 years of age (9.7%)
Adults enrolled in Medicaid (6.5%)
Adults reporting frequent mental distress (6.4%), defined as adults who report problems with stress, depression, or emotions on at least 14 of the previous 30 days (formerly referred to as poor mental health)
Adults who are unemployed (6.3%)

New York State Department of Health:

The New York State Department of Health has provided an update regarding the investigation into the outbreak of vaping-associated pulmonary illness. This includes a new health advisory for healthcare providers, a breakdown of cases by county and collaboration on a study published. The advisory can be found on the NYSDOH website.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Cigarette Smoking NYS Adults 2020

Partnership for Drug Free Kids: What You Need to Know and How to Talk to Your Kids About Vaping

Centers for Disease Control: Electronic Cigarettes- What’s the Bottom Line? Factual information regarding what vaping is and its negative consequences (PDF)

American Lung Association: Parents can play a significant role in protecting their child from the dangers of vaping and nicotine dependence. Please use the tips and suggestions in this guide as a framework for having a productive conversation with your child.

American Lung Association: E-cigarette or Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)

American Lung Association: Marijuana and Lung Health

American Lung Association: Health Risks of E-Cigarettes and Vaping

American Lung Association: E-Cigarettes Vapes and JUULs-What Teens Should Know

Centers for Disease Control: Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults

E-cigarettes Outpace Cigarettes, Alcohol and Marijuana in Usage Among Teens

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Study – E-cigarettes May Be More Harmful Than Beneficial

Community Anti Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA): What’s Trending? E-Cigarettes

Community Anti Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA): This Practical Theorist is part of a series of publications designed to summarize field research on key drug abuse issues, and to present it in a concise, practical format, with strategies for using the data to mobilize communities and support the mission of coalitions. CADCA is proud to release their latest Practical Theorist Practical Theorist 11 – Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: Juuling, Other Trends, and Community Prevention

The publication covers important topics related to the Vaping epidemic: Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Despite a decline in smoking in the past 50 years, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016) 40 million adults and more than three and a half million adolescents (CDC, 2018) continue to smoke. As a result, 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by tobacco use and about 1,300 people die each day of smoking-related illnesses (CDC, 2018).

Centers for Disease Control (CDC): Quick Facts on the Risks of E-Cigarettes for Kids, Teens and Young Adults

Centers for Disease Control (CDC): Tobacco Product Use and Associated Factors Among Middle and High School Students — National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2021

Centers for Disease Control (CDC):E-cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2020

Centers for Disease Control (CDC):Scientific Study on Vaping

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System brief on E-cigarette use in New York adults ages 18 and over (PDF)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Knowing the Risks of E-cigarettes and Vaping. Teaching and student resources that includes a PowerPoint presentation and talking points. Appropriate for ages 11-18. Includes an educator’s user information fact sheet.

E-Cigarettes – NY SmokeFree

Johns Hopkins Medicine: 5 Vaping Facts You Need to Know

University of California, Riverside: Study Finds Electronic Cigarettes Damage Brain Stem Cells

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine: Another Gross Reason to Put Down the E-Cigarettes

Vaping and Marijuana Concentrates: What is Vaping?

Resources for Parents and Educators

Get the Facts: Electronic Cigarettes (E-cigarettes) and Similar Vapor Products

Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Electronic Cigarettes Downloadable Infographics and Fact Sheets (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Public Health and Tobacco Policy Center: E-Cigarette Myths

Youth e-cigarette use is soaring to unprecedented and epidemic rates. Youth and young adults are far more likely than older adults to use e-cigarettes, including adults using e-cigarettes to quit smoking. The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a call to action, urging state and local governments to respond to this epidemic with evidence-based tobacco controls.

Tobacco and E-Cigarettes (Department of Health)

Teachers and Parents: That USB Stick Might Be an E-cigarette (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

E-cigarettes Shaped Like USB Flash Drives: Information for Parents, Educators, and Health Care Providers

Talk with Your Teen About E-cigarettes: A Tip Sheet for Parents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)