1 In 3 Students Have Vaped In Santa Clara County: Study

PALO ALTO, CA — About one in three youth have vaped in Santa Clara County, according to results released Wednesday from a new local government study.

The new data shows widespread and increasing use of e-cigarettes — aka vaping, among high school students in the county and across California.

More than 31 percent of teens surveyed in Santa Clara County reported they have tried e-cigarettes. Some of this group were already regular users of vapes despite their young age. With that, more than 13 percent of teens in the survey now use e-cigarettes, meaning they reported vaping in the last month.

At the same time, use of combustible cigarettes by youth in the county in the past month declined to a low of 1.4 percent. This is a decrease since 2015-2016, when a previous study of middle- and high school students found that 3 percent of youth in the county used combustible cigarettes in the past month.

The California Student Tobacco Survey reached students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades at 18 schools in Santa Clara County. This is the largest countywide survey of youth tobacco use in the county since the broad introduction of e-cigarettes to the market.

Still, the rate of youth who are current users of e-cigarettes in Santa Clara County – 13 percent – remains lower than that of the country as a whole, which stands at 27 percent. However, the Santa Clara County rate is slightly higher than the state of California’s 11 percent.

“Today’s youth are our future. We must empower them with the tools necessary to make positive choices for themselves. Santa Clara County is doing better than the national average, but that is not enough when 1 in 3 high school students are using e-cigarettes. We can, and must, do better,” county Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said.

The survey asked about access to tobacco products, use of those products and the students’ perceptions of new tobacco products like vape pens and e-cigarettes. It also looked into long-established products such as combustible cigarettes. The survey found:

• 13.2 percent of Santa Clara County teens reported using e-cigarettes in the past month, meaning they were counted as current users
• Nearly one in three Santa Clara County teens – 31.6 percent – report that they have used an e-cigarette at least once
• 82.6 percent of teens currently using tobacco reported using a flavored product, with the use of flavored products widespread across all tobacco products and all demographic categories
• More than two in five teens – 45.4 percent – reported purchasing their own e-cigarettes, with over a quarter of this group saying they buy them directly from a local store. Among those who purchased e-cigarettes in a local store, 62.5 percent purchased them at a vape shop.

As a reminder to store owners, it is illegal for any retailer to sell any tobacco products including e-cigarettes to youth under the age of 21 in California. It is also against the law for adult tobacco shops to allow youngsters under that age on the premises, unless they have someone of legal age accompanying them.

Full survey results are available at sccphd.org/tobaccofree.

“E-cigarettes and other vape products contain many chemicals – some known to the consumer, and some not – and we don’t fully know what the harms of these substances might be in the short and long term,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the county's health officer and public health department director. “What we do know, however, is that e-cigarettes and other vape products containing nicotine are harmful to the developing brain, which includes the adolescent brain.”

The Santa Clara County Public Health Department partners with schools, government and community organizations to prevent youth use of tobacco. Over the past two years, the department has provided community workshops and presentations to more than 2,000 youth, parents and school staff as well as delivered more than 250 hours in efforts to curb youth tobacco use.

In Santa Clara County, one in eight deaths annually is attributed to smoking. Tobacco use is still the number one preventable cause of death and disease in California, killing nearly 40,000 Californians every year, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Tobacco use carries a hefty price tag — both in the annual cost of $689 million in Santa Clara County and impacts on families due to preventable diseases.