Precinct Reporter Group News

Main Menu

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Read Our E-Edition
  • ADVERTISE
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

Precinct Reporter Group News

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Read Our E-Edition
  • ADVERTISE
  • S.B. NAACP New Vision, Welcomes New Officers

  • “Rhythm in Black” Black History Month Event Feb. 5

  • Frontline Mortician Deals with the Dead, COVID Testing

  • Publishers Selected to Participate in GNI Ad Transformation Lab

  • Lawmakers Dig Into Criminal Justice System Inequality

Latest PRGNews
Home›Latest PRGNews›Flavored Tobacco: Old Trick Made New

Flavored Tobacco: Old Trick Made New

By Precinct Reporter News
October 25, 2018
2864
0
Share:

By Carol McGruder

Co-Chair African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

Just as cigarettes were finally decreasing in popularity, vaping came along and made tobacco cool again. From 2011-2015, the use of e-cigarettes (or e-cigs) among high school students increased nationwide from 1.5% to 16% — and this number just keeps going up. In fact, e-cigs were the most commonly used form of tobacco among California high school students in 2016.

But why is this happening? In short, flavors. The tobacco industry uses sweet, enticing flavors with fun names like Captain Berry Crunch, Sour Gummy Worms, and Mermaid Tears attracting kids to try these products and setting them up for a dangerous, life-long tobacco addiction.  While e-cigs are relatively new, using flavors to get people hooked to tobacco isn’t.

The tobacco industry has been using menthol, the “original flavored tobacco,” to get people addicted for generations.  Menthol was added to cigarettes nearly 100 years ago to give them a minty, fresh taste that masks the harshness of tobacco, making it harder for people to quit.  For generations, the tobacco industry targeted menthol cigarettes at the African American community through aggressive marketing and advertising – and the result is still evident today – 70% of all menthol smokers in California are African American, a much higher percentage than in other groups.

But with menthol cigarettes, teens still had to buy them at retail stores, and they still looked and smelled like “traditional cigarettes” – giving parents, families, and teachers a fair chance to spot them.  Now, e-cigarettes do not look or smell like traditional tobacco – some even look like USB drives and pens. They’re also purchased in a new way – online. When kids try to buy e-cigarettes online, they are successful 94% of the time. The Internet-savvy teens of today can easily bypass the age gates on e-cigarette and flavored e-juice websites.

Teens are even getting help to avoid getting caught.  YouTube is full of tutorials that teach kids how to order a vape without mom and dad finding out. The instructions encourage teens to “order your Vape on Amazon” and “tell your parents not to open the package because you’re making an unboxing video.” Other tutorials show kids how to hide their e-cigs at home or school and how to conceal their vapor smoke.

The industry claims that it makes their products for adults, but the truth is undeniable – they need kids to use their products to become the next generation of customers.  The tobacco industry must recruit new smokers to take the place of the people that are dying or quit every day. California’s smoking rate has decreased 4 times faster than any other state in the nation, making its smoking rate the 2nd lowest in the US, but e-cigarettes changed all that.  They contain addictive, harmful chemicals known to cause a host of illnesses, and when kids use them they are 3 times more likely to try cigarettes a year later.

Menthol was originally used by the Tobacco Industry as a “starter product” to get people addicted to their deadly products. A far wider number of flavors are being used for the same reason now.  Go to FlavorsHookKids.org to learn more about how the tobacco industry is using flavors to hook kids to deadly products, and what you can do about it.  Addiction is not a phase, our children will grow out of adolescent behavior but they won’t grow out of a deadly addiction.

TagsaddictionflavorsLong Beach Leaderprecinct reportertobaccoTri-County Bulletinvaping
Previous Article

13th Annual Taste of Soul

Next Article

Do Children All Need to Succeed The ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Precinct Reporter News

Related articles More from author

  • Latest PRGNews

    Legislation to Rename Post Office For “Woodie” Rucker-Hughes

    March 5, 2020
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Receives NNPA National Leadership Award

    September 17, 2020
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    Sahaba Initiative Brings Free Food, Extends Services

    November 26, 2018
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    CoveredCa Insurance Sign Ups Costs Less This Year for Most

    November 4, 2017
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    Nearly 400 attend SAAB at CSUSB

    October 17, 2019
    By Precinct Reporter News
  • Latest PRGNews

    Free Feasts Coming Up in I.E.

    November 14, 2019
    By Precinct Reporter News

You might be interested

  • Latest PRGNews

    NAACP Focuses on Millennials for Future Growth

  • Latest PRGNews

    SBCUSD Community Gathering for Excellence

  • Latest PRGNews

    SBVC Eases Financial Aid Process Via Technology

Ads

Find us on Facebook

Precinct Reporter News Group

Your local news resource for 50 years in the Inland Empire, Orange County, Long Beach and surrounding areas!

To subscribe or advertise, call 909.889.0597

About us

  • Broadcasting & Media Production Company
    357 W. 2nd Street
    San Bernardino, California, CA 92401
  • mailto:sales@precinctreporter.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • S.B. NAACP New Vision, Welcomes New Officers

    By Precinct Reporter News
    January 21, 2021
  • “Rhythm in Black” Black History Month Event Feb. 5

    By Precinct Reporter News
    January 21, 2021
  • Frontline Mortician Deals with the Dead, COVID Testing

    By Precinct Reporter News
    January 21, 2021
  • IE/OC Prostate and Breast Cancer, Change the Menu

    By PRGNews
    July 16, 2015
  • Join our Recipe Competition!

    By PRGNews
    July 16, 2015
  • SB Budget Cuts CDBG

    SB CDBG Cuts Have Local Nonprofits Braced for the Worst

    By PRGNews
    July 16, 2015

Follow us

© Powered by Hotspotwebsites.net. All rights reserved.