Testimony before the Rhode Island Senate Finance Committee Regarding Regulating Vapor Products

04-01-2025 RI SB 543 Vapor Product Regulation Testimony.pdf

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Chairman DiPalma, Vice-Chairman Ciccone, Vice-Chairman Felag, and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for your time today to regulating vapor products in Rhode Island. My name is Lindsey Stroud and I’m a Creator and Manager of Tobacco Harm Reduction 101 (thr101.org), a website dedicated to examining tobacco and vapor product use among adults and youth. Since 2016, in various roles, I have actively monitored and examined state, national, and international tobacco and tobacco harm reduction policies.

As a tobacco harm reduction tool, e-cigarettes have helped thousands of adults in Rhode Island quit smoking and should not be restricted to tobacco-only flavored options. Numerous research indicates that youth vaping is significantly down, while youth traditional tobacco use is non-existent, and adult cigarette use continues to decline. Allowing the sale of flavored vapor products to adults in the Ocean State will be a significant public health win, while allowing the state to actively monitor retailers and address any issues that may arise.

Key Points:

• In 2023, 60,664 Rhode Island adults (6.8 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This is a 1.5 percent increase from 2022 and represents 1,163 additional adults vaping.
  

• Since 2016, adult vaping has increased by 51.1 percent, with an additional 22,476 adults vaping in 2023 compared to 2016.
  

• In 2022, of adults currently using e-cigarettes, nearly half (47.1 percent) were between 25 and 44 years old.
  

• Among Rhode Island adults using e-cigarettes in 2022, 42.2 percent were formerly smoking while 29.5 percent were currently smoking.
  

• Youth vapor product use has decreased significantly in recent years.
  

• Between 2019 and 2023, the percent of Rhode Island high schoolers who were currently vaping decreased by 45.2 percent.
  

• Between 2015 and 2021, the percent of Rhode Island middle schoolers who reported ever and current use of e-cigarettes decrease by 11.8 percent.
  

• Nationally, youth e-cigarette use has continued to decline. In 2024, 7.8 percent of U.S. high school students reported current e-cigarette use, while 3.5 percent of U.S. middle schoolers were currently vaping.
  

• Since at least 2017, Rhode Island high school students are not citing flavors as a main reason for e-cigarette use.
  

• In 2023, 4 percent of Rhode Island high schoolers who had ever used an e-cigarette reported using them because of flavors. The most common reason, cited by 32.9 percent of high schoolers, was “curiosity,” followed by 20.4 percent who cited using them because they were feeling anxious, depressed, and/or stressed, and 17.4 percent who had used them because a friend and/or family member had.
  

• Nationally, only 13.2 percent of U.S. middle and high school students who were currently vaping in 2021 cited flavors as a reason for using e-cigarettes. Comparatively, 43.5 percent cited using e-cigarettes to get a buzz, 43.2 percent had used them because they were feeling anxious, depressed, and/or stressed, and 27.6 percent had used them because a friend and/or family member had.
  

• Flavors play an important role in adult use of e-cigarettes. A 2018 survey of nearly 70,000 U.S. adult vapers found that 83.2 percent and 72.3 percent of participants reported vaping fruit and dessert flavors, respectively.
  

• A 2019 user survey found that tobacco flavor was used by less than five percent of adults.
  

• Rhode Island retailers do a good job in not selling e-cigarette products to youth and minors.
  

• Between 2018 and 2023, sales of e-cigarette products to minors made up only 2.9 percent of compliance check inspections, and 19.3 percent of products cited for violations.
  

• The small vapor industry is already in decline and flavor bans and exorbitant taxes will shutter small businesses in the Ocean State.
  

• Between 2018 and 2023, the economic impact of small vapor in Rhode Island decreased by 47.1 percent and represents an economic loss of more than $28 million.
  

• In 2023, small vapor’s total economic impact was estimated to be nearly $31.5 million.
  

• Rhode Island should allocate more of existing tobacco monies towards tobacco control programs including cessation, education, and prevention efforts.
  

• Rhode Island collected an estimated $122.5 million in tobacco-related monies in 2023, yet the state allocated only $400,000 in state funding towards tobacco control programs, which was a 0 percent change in funding from 2022’s levels.
  

• In 2023, for every $1 the Ocean State received in tobacco monies, it spent less than $0.01 on tobacco control efforts.
  

• In 2023, Rhode Island collected at least $1,445 in excise taxes from current adult smokers, yet spent only $4.72 on programs to help them quit smoking.