What role do taxes have in the habits of consumers? A new Yale study found that increasing taxes on e-cigarettes led to a decline in youth and young adults’ rate of daily vaping; but it led to an increase in cigarette use. The tobacco taxation in Connecticut is $4.35 cents per pack of cigarettes. The state also taxes e-cigarettes at $0.40 per milliliter.

This hour on Where We Live, we hear from the co-author of the Yale study on e-cigarette taxation and the policy implications, and from a youth and adolescent psychiatrist on the best ways to help patients cease smoking. We also look into social pressures, trends, and the influence of marketing and advertising in driving youth and young adults toward e-cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of three new e-cigarette products in 2021, marking the first authorization of its kind by the FDA.

Concurrently, the FDA ordered hundreds of products off the market – such as a vape holder shaped like a Gameboy that kids could potentially hide from parents, and a “sunset sherbet” flavored vape liquid, which retailers continue to sell, according to a new investigation by STAT News.

The Federal Trade Commission’s first-ever e-cigarette report links “an unprecedented” increase in e-cigarette use among youth with the rise in flavored products. “The data show that this increase coincided with dramatic spikes in the market share of flavored products, higher concentrations of nicotine, and an industry attempt to evade a ban on free sampling,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

GUESTS:

• Ruth Canovi: Director of Advocacy, American Lung Association (Connecticut); and Chair, MATCH Coalition.
• Michael Pesko: Health economist and Associate Professor of Economics, Georgia State University; Co-author of a July, 2022 study titled “Young adult responses to taxes on  cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery systems,” in the journal Addiction.
• Dr. Javeed Sukhera: Chair of Psychiatry at the Institute of Living and Chief of the Department of Psychiatry at Hartford Hospital.
• Angela Mattie: Professor, School of Business and the School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University.

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