Editorial: Rise in youth vaping requires age limit of 21, tax

By The Herald Editorial Board

Those concerned with public health are watching with unease the departure of Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who has been an unflinching voice for greater regulation of tobacco products, especially in regard to their use by youths and young adults.

It was Gottlieb who last summer warned that e-cigarette use among youths had become an epidemic, following the release of the 2018 National Tobacco Youth Survey. After years of declines in youth smoking, the popularization of e-cigarettes — in particular small and easily concealable models made by Juul — was reflected by a 78 percent jump in vaping by high school students and a 48 percent increase among middle school students. A total of 3.6 million youths reported having used e-cigarettes, the survey found, an increase of 1.3 million between 2017 and 2018 alone.

Gottlieb, who announced his resignation last month, is leaving unfinished his plans to strengthen regulations on tobacco use and vaping by youths, The New York Times recently reported. Gottlieb’s departure, the Times notes, has provided oxygen to tobacco companies, e-cigarette makers and their lobbyists looking to slow or stop Gottlieb’s most recent actions to restrict retail sales of fruit- and candy-flavored vaping products to youths under 18 as well as plans to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes.

At the same time, Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, has signaled its confidence in the growing e-cigarette market — still professed by many as a alternative to smoking and a method of smoking cessation — by buying a 35 percent stake in Juul.

Gottlieb has expressed his support for his interim and possibly permanent successor, Dr. Norman “Ned” Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute and his belief that Sharpless will advance his policies.

Even so, now seems a good time for Washington state lawmakers to make policies of their own that can better protect the health of the state’s youths. The Legislature needs to raise the legal age for smoking — and vaping — from 18 to 21 and to impose a tax on vaping products, similar to the level that traditional tobacco products are taxed.

House Bill 1074, which would prohibit the sale of tobacco and vaping products to those under the age of 21, passed out of the House, 66-30, and now is being considered by the Senate.

E-cigarettes have their supporters, including those who have successfully used them to transition from cigarettes and other tobacco products and even to quit nicotine all together. But, as shown by the FDA survey, they have also proved extremely effective in introducing youths to nicotine, leading to dependency and encouraging their own transition to cigarettes.

A 2016 study by the University of Illinois’ Pediatrics Department, which followed teens for two years, found that teens who used e-cigarettes in 2013 had 7 times greater odds of smoking tobacco a year later, according to a Forbes report.

In recent legislative hearings, some have argued against the increase in legal age because it would limit access to e-cigarettes that could help young smokers quit. But raising the age limit will prevent many more from starting in the first place.

For those youths who avoid smoking or vaping before the age of 21, 95 percent of them will never smoke.

And — social creatures that they are — most of those ages 15 to 17 rely on their peers, including young adults, to purchase vaping products and cigarettes for them. Increasing the age to 21 will reduce availability to younger teens and help limit their use on school campuses.

Ignoring the obvious benefit of improved health among the state’s youths and the resulting reduction in health care costs, some have argued in committee hearings that raising the legal age will mean a drop in the state’s revenue from the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

True, but is hooking youths and young adults on smoking how the state wants to make its money?

And the loss of revenue can be at least partially addressed by imposing a tax on e-cigarettes and vaping materials.

Currently, the products are only assessed a sales tax. House Bill 1873 would tax vaping products at 60 percent — compared to 95 percent for other tobacco products — and use that revenue to fund public health services, prevention and cessation programs and enforcement of vaping laws.

While those revenues wouldn’t go to the state’s general fund; they will better address the state’s failure to adequately fund tobacco prevention programs. The state ranks 43rd in terms of state spending on such programs. The $1.5 million allocated by the state for those efforts in 2019 represents only 2.4 percent of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for a state of Washington’s population.

By raising the age for e-cigarettes, vaping goods and all tobacco products — and putting a comparatively modest tax on their purchase — the state improve its standing among states committed to public health and join at least seven other states and 350 cities and counties that have increased the age to purchase any tobacco or vaping product to 21.

And it will mean better health for the state’s youths and young adults.