PHOTO: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The percentage of US middle and high school students who use electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey show that the percentage of high school students who reported ever using an e-cigarette rose from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012. In the samet time period, high school students using e-cigarettes within the past 30 days rose from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent. Use also doubled among middle school students. Altogether, in 2012 more than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide have tried e-cigarettes.
CDC researchers say the increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is “deeply troubling” as nicotine is a highly addictive drug and many teens who start using e-cigarettes may be “condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”
Click here to read coverage on the CDC report on NYTimes.com..
