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The embrace of e-cigarettes and vaping by Minnesota youth is reversing the state's long-term trend of declining teen tobacco use, the Minnesota Health Department said Thursday.

Minnesota youth tobacco use is rising for the first time in 17 years, with 26 percent of high school students using some form of tobacco or nicotine, up from 24 percent in 2014, the agency said as it 

released its annual survey on young people and tobacco

Youth e-cigarette use is up 50 percent since 2014, the agency said.

E-cigarettes "threaten to reverse our success in preventing youth from using tobacco products," Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said in a statement. The tobacco industry, she added, has "responded with new products designed to get youth addicted to nicotine."

Health officials worry about kids and e-cigarettes

As e-cigs take off, who should write the rules?

• 1 in 5 high school students use e-cigarettes, a nearly 50 percent increase since the data were last collected in 2014. 


• Youth cigarette smoking has reached an all-time low. Less than 10 percent of high school students now smoke cigarettes, a 70 percent drop since 2000.


• Teens are using e-cigarette devices for "recreational marijuana and other illicit substances."

MPR News Staff

Author

The embrace of e-cigarettes and vaping by Minnesota youth is reversing a long-term trend of declining teen tobacco use in Minnesota, the Minnesota Health Department said Thursday, noting that 1 in 5 high school students use e-cigarettes.

Led by e-cigs, MN youth tobacco use rises for first time since 2000

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