Teen Tobacco & Vape Use Infographic

Front Side

Tobacco and vape use among teenagers in South Dakota is a problem:

• 12% of high school kids smoke.
• 3.5% of middle school kids smoke.
• 23.9% of high school students use e-cigarettes.
• 6.7% of middle school students use e-cigarettes.
• 13.9% of middle school students stated they had breathed smoke from someone else’s tobacco product on school property in the past week.

Here’s why…

• Among middle school students who tried to purchase cigarettes, 95.8% were able to do so, and only 4.2% of attempts to purchase cigarettes were refused. The most common place of purchase was at a gas station.
• Among middle school students, 53.6% saw promotion of tobacco products in convenience stores. 50.9% of middle school students reported seeing promotion of tobacco products on TV or in movies.
• Haing a parent or other household member that uses cigarettes contributes significantly to cigarette use in this middle school population. Of those using cigarettes, more than half had a household member that used cigarettes.
• 27.4% of middle school students were in the same room or car with someone who was smoking cigarettes on 1 or more of the past 7 days.
• Less than half of K-12 school policies prohibited use of e-cigarettes and other vaping products.

Back Side

What can we do about it?

Implement a 24/7 tobacco-free buildings & grounds school policy. A policy combined with school-based education, and community and mass media efforts can effectively prevent or postpone the onset of smoking by 20-40% among teenagers in the United States.

Tobacco-free policies work because they:

• Provide positive role-modeling by adult employees and visitors
• Reduce belief that tobacco use is a normal behavior
• Support tobacco prevention messages
• Prepare students for tobacco-free workplaces
• Reduce exposure to secondhand smoke

For more information to help you implement a comprehensive tobacco-free policy in your school, visit BeFreeSD.com/advocacy-tools

The QuitLine works. The majority of young smokers and e-cigarette users want to quit. QuitLine services are FREE, available to anyone 13+, and people who use a quit coach are 2x as likely to quit and stay quit. In fact, the QuitLine has a 42.3% quit rate reported at 7-month follow-up for youth tobacco users. This is especially good news because vape use among teens is skyrocketing, and South Dakota teens are at serious risk for nicotine addiction.

Talk to young people about the very real and serious risks:

• Irreversible damage to developing brains
• Affects mood and impulse control
• Increases anxiety and depression

Make sure school staff, counselors, and nurses know how effective QuitLine services are, and encourage young people to enroll in the coaching program or order free cessation medication by requesting a Kickstart Kit.

Learn more at SDQuitLine.com or call 1-800-SD-QUITS.

Mobilize your community to restrict minors’ access to tobacco products in combination with additional interventions, such as supporting retailer education, and enforcement of retailer sales laws.

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