
A new study published by Smoke Free Israel in honor of World No-Tobacco Day, which will fall next week, on May 31, revealed that in Israel, the number of teens ages 15-17 who smoke every day has doubled in the past four years, Israel Hayom reported.
In addition, electronic cigarettes have become the "gateway" to smoking, with every other child aged 12-14 and every third child aged 15-17 starting their smoking journey with e-cigarettes. The study concluded that high school has become the central period not just for initial experimentation in various smoking products and ways of smoking but also for turning those experimenting into active smokers for the rest of their lives.
The findings showed that while 4.7% of youth ages 15-17 who smoked daily in 2019, in 2022 the percentage rose to 9.7%. Among those ages 18-19, a record was broken: 25% of them smoked in 2019, rising to 35% in 2021 and 39% in 2022. This rate is 1.5 times higher for that age group than it was before electronic cigarettes hit the market.
There has also been a jump in the number of youth using electronic cigarettes: 33% of youth experimented with the products in 2022, compared to 24% in 2021. A similar trend was observed among the adults (18-30): In 2020, just 3.8% used electronic cigarettes, while in 2022, the percentage had risen to 9.4%.
The study included 3,100 Jewish and Arab participants, and estimates that the rise in the use of electronic cigarettes is the result of a combination of factors: the entry of various companies' electronic cigarettes into the market in 2019-2020, the expansion of their products from being sold in niche stores only to being sold in kiosks and supermarkets; the entry of disposable electronic cigarettes into Israel when the economy reopened; and the cancellation of the coronavirus restrictions and the resumption of social meetings.
Though the law does not allow smoking products to be sold to minors, the study found a sharp rise of 62% in the number of youth who purchased their own smoking products - from 26% in 2019 to 43% in 2022. "Social purchasing" in which an adult is asked or friend who smoke are asked, has become the second-most popular way for youth to acquire smoking products.
Two-thirds of youth ages 15-17 reported that they faced no obstacles when purchasing smoking products: 43% were not asked for their age and 16% were asked their age and smoking products were still sold to them. Kiosks and corner stores continue to serve as the main place where youth purchase their smoking products (16%), followed by niche smoking stores (9%) and the convenience stores at gas stations (7.4%).
Shira Kislev, CEO of Smoke Free Israel, said, "The State has received a failing grade in the battle against smoking and in protecting the next generation. Even though the law prohibits selling smoking products to minors, there is no supervision of this. Youth purchase cigarettes and other smoking products, at higher rates than ever. These findings should keep the legislators and public health officials up at night."