Help my high school classmates: Tax vape products the same as cigarettes

Gov. Kathy Hochul recently called for increasing the state tax on cigarettes by $1, and for prohibiting the sale of flavored nicotine products. But if the governor is serious about reducing vape use in children, she must tax disposable vapes at the same rate as a pack of cigarettes, making them too expensive for kids my age to purchase, try, and ultimately become addicted to the nicotine they contain.

In high schools, finding a vape or electronic cigarette is easier than finding a #2 pencil.

As a sophomore, I’ve seen classmates vape on the morning school bus, in locker rooms, and between classes. Students brag about vaping in class, disguising it as a quick cough. It’s not one group of high-schoolers, either. Honor students, athletes, theater kids — all major high school tribes are vaping.

The Surgeon General calls youth vaping an “epidemic.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report 11.3% of all high schoolers use nicotine vape products. More than a quarter of these students vape daily. Among middle school kids, 320,000 are vaping, with 10% of those children using vape products daily.

Disposable nicotine-containing vape products like Juul, Puff, and Vuse are the most popular brands in school, and menthol is among the most popular flavorings for nicotine. Mint and menthol are used by more than half of the middle and high school students who use flavored vape products. Many kids turned to these products as a way of dealing with high school stress — feelings intensified by isolation during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Kids in high school, let alone middle school, don’t understand the dangers of vaping. Nicotine in these products is highly concentrated and incredibly addictive, causing cravings within a week of use. Juul pods may contain as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. According to the Surgeon General, adolescent use of nicotine negatively affects learning, attention, and memory — essential skills in high school and life. Vaping increases the risk of future marijuana use. Kids who vape are 350% more likely to use traditional combustible cigarettes.

Students prefer disposable vape products because they are easily concealed and cheap. Some kids buy them directly from stores since enforcement of the age restriction is usually lax. Others get them from older siblings. Most kids can’t consistently afford a $12 pack of cigarettes, but kids like me can buy a $3.99 vape product with lunch money. Since they are so inexpensive, some students simply gift them to friends.

Taxing all nicotine products is an effective means of reducing youth use and improving public health. Four decades of experience show that for every 10% increase in the real price of cigarettes, overall smoking declines by as much as 5%. More importantly, even greater reductions are seen among teen and youth nicotine users. Since young kids are the most price-sensitive to tobacco products, raising taxes on vape and nicotine products will price children out of this market at an age when the scientific community notes we are most sensitive to developing nicotine addiction.

Tobacco companies will oppose this proposal. Store owners will claim they will go out of business. But arguments against sound tobacco policies always include faulty predictions. In 2003, New York City businesses claimed they wouldn’t survive a prohibition on smoking in restaurants and bars. They thrived. In the early 1990s, critics argued a federal ban on smoking in airplanes would cause domestic travel to plummet — another incorrect, “sky-is-falling” forecast.

Gov. Hochul and the State Legislature are right to consider increasing the tax on cigarettes and removing attractive flavorings, but they need to go further and raise taxes on all electronic nicotine products if they truly prioritize the health of kids.