Vaping Can Be Addictive and May Lure Teenagers to Smoking, Science Panel Concludes (nytimes.com)

A national panel of public health experts concluded in a report released on Tuesday that vaping with e-cigarettes that contain nicotine can be addictive and that teenagers who use the devices may be put at higher risk of switching to traditional smoking. From a report: Whether teenage use of e-cigarettes may lead to conventional smoking has been intensely debated in the United States and elsewhere. While the industry argues that vaping is not a steppingstone to conventional cigarettes or addiction, some antismoking advocates contend that young people become hooked on nicotine, and are enticed to cancer-causing tobacco-based cigarettes over time. The new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is the most comprehensive analysis of existing research on e-cigarettes. It concluded the devices are safer than traditional smoking products and that they do help smokers quit, citing conclusive proof that switching can reduce smokers' exposure to deadly tar, numerous dangerous chemicals and other carcinogens.

Comments

Re:The gateway drug theory doesn't make sense

[burtosis]

It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

LK

Sorry but you failed to not apply logic. Branding, trends and popular culture all push people far away from sensible cheap alternatives, teens rarely make rational reasoned decisions - it's how it feels instead.

That said caffeine is the real gateway drug, once I got high on that, around 6 or so, I was hooked on how good drugs can be.

Of course this again.

[OrangeTide]

Oxygen - the ultimate gateway drug. Once you start inhaling oxygen in a few years you'll move onto the smell of frying bacon, stopping to smell the roses, and eventually crack.