Tobacco imagery and cigarette smoking depicted on television is on the increase and leading young viewers to try e-cigarettes, according to a first-of-its-kind study published in Preventive Medicine. The study found that young viewers with the highest exposure to TV tobacco depictions are three times as likely to start vaping as those who don’t.
Although the images mostly show conventional cigarettes, teens and young adults are turning to e-cigarettes—which contain nicotine or marijuana— and are the dominant form of nicotine use among young people. More than 27 percent of high school students said they vaped in 2019, up from 11.7 percent in 2017, while traditional cigarette smoking levels have dropped to 5.4 percent of high school students. The dominant images depicted in the top shows for young people include a character puffing on a cigarette and a power wall of convenience-store brands, but vaping images are also increasing.
Meanwhile, marijuana use among Baby Boomers—especially men—is on the rise in both states that have legalized cannabis as well as those that haven’t. A report in the Annals of Internal Medicine said men ages 60 to 64 had the highest rates of marijuana use between 2016 and 2018, and use nearly doubled among men ages 65 to 69. The increase is attributed to changing perceptions about pot and easier availability, as well as proliferating claims about purported medical benefits for pain, anxiety and sleep problems. Still, young adults ages 18 to 25 remain the biggest users of the drug, with nearly 39 percent reporting use in 2018.