Newly released data from a 2014 survey entitled “Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use among Young People in England” show that while some 22% of children age 11-15 had experimented with e-cigarettes, only 3% have become regular vapers and none of these regular vapers are smokers.
This report contains results from an annual survey of secondary school pupils in England in years 7 to 11 (mostly aged 11 to 15), where 6,173 pupils in 210 schools completed questionnaires in the autumn term of 2014.
Key facts of the survey are:
• In 2014, less than one in five 11 to 15 year olds (18%) said that they had smoked at least once. This was the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 1982, and continues the decline since 2003, when 42% of pupils had tried smoking.
• Over a fifth (22%) of pupils had used e-cigarettes at least once. This included most pupils who smoked cigarettes regularly (89%). E-cigarette use was considerably lower among pupils who had never smoked (11%).
• One in ten (10%) of pupils had used water pipe tobacco at least once.
• In 2014, 38% of 11 to 15 year olds had tried alcohol at least once, the lowest proportion since the survey began.
• The prevalence of drug use among 11 to 15 year olds in England declined between 2001 and 2010. Since then the decline has slowed. In 2014, 15% of pupils had ever taken drugs, 10% had taken drugs in the last year, and 6% had taken drugs in the last month.
• The estimates from this survey indicate that in England in 2014 around 90,000 pupils aged between 11 and 15 were regular smokers, around 240,000 had drunk alcohol in the past week, 180,000 had taken drugs in the last month, and 310,000 had taken drugs in the last 12 months.
The figures show that youth smoking in England dropped to its lowest level since the survey began in 1982, despite the dramatic increase in teenage e-cigarette experimentation in recent years.
In spite of various dramatic statements coming from anti-smoking groups and advocates about e-cigarettes being a gateway to youth smoking, there remains no evidence to support that contention and a growing body of evidence that refutes it.