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Florida Teens Smoking at an All-Time Low Rate

September 25th, 2015 by flanews

Florida high schoolers are smoking cigarettes in numbers that are at an all time low according to a new report from the state. But as Matt Galka tells us, Florida health officials are now concerned about a different growing trend.

18 year old Florida State student Cailen Lyons-Howey says she doesn’t see too many of her classmates smoking, and that’s a good thing.

“I think it’s bad for people’s health and there’s not really any positive sides to smoking because people get addicted to it,” she said.

New data from the department of health says that just 6.9 percent of Florida teens throughout are smoking. That’s an all time low down from almost 9 percent two years ago.

The Department of Health says the numbers are encouraging but at the same time, there’s been a dramatic increase in e-cigarettes among teens.

In the same two year span, e-cigarette and vaping use has gone from 5.4 percent up to 15.8 percent.

Tim Rider is the General Manager of South Georgia vapors, an e-cigarette shop based in Georgia that expanded to Florida’s capital.  He’s seen customers quit regular smoking thanks to the product.  But he wouldn’t push it on teenagers as an alternative.

“If they’re not going to smoke I’d say don’t start anything at all, but this is a product I’ve used to quit smoking. A lot of people have. I wouldn’t recommend picking up just for fun, because there are certain health risks,” he said.

Greg Tish is on the board for the Northwest Florida American Lung Association and a former smoker. He says there’s just too many uncertainties right now about e-cigarettes.

“We just don’t know anything about it, if tobacco companies are jumping on board with vaping, there’s a little hint it may not be the best thing,” said Tish.

Last year, Florida officially banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.

The state’s report says that the amount of Florida high schoolers that have tried a cigarette has gone down 43 percent since 2007.

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