Aug. 23—After years of climbing rates of New Mexico teens taking up vaping, those numbers are finally going down.
In the place of e-cigarettes, however, New Mexico Department of Health officials are anticipating a rise in a newer type of product: nicotine pouches like those produced by Zyn, marketed as convenient smokeless, spitless alternatives.
“This seems to be the long game and the strategy. It’s about constantly looking at that younger generation to lock down your market,” the department’s policy director, Arya Lamb, told lawmakers on the Tobacco Settlement Revenue Oversight Committee during a meeting this week.
“And they do it through innovation, and they outspend us,” she said of tobacco companies.
It’s not clear from state data how many young people are using nicotine pouches. Information on teen use of tobacco and related products is gleaned from the New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey, administered in odd-numbered years. The 2023 questionnaires, which have not yet been released to the public, do not appear to ask about the use of pouches.
Still, data presented to lawmakers showing interest in top nicotine products — disposable vapes formerly known as “Elf Bars” and Zyns — shows internet searches for the two have swapped places over the last year.
Health Department officials say that indicates the use of Zyns might significantly increase in the future.
“Unfortunately, as we see some forms of nicotine use decline, such as cigarettes and vaping, the tobacco industry continues to respond with innovative new products aimed at the youth market,” Health Department spokesman David Morgan wrote in an email. “Currently, Zyn, and other synthetic nicotine pouch products are becoming increasingly popular as we see vaping decline.”
About 19% of New Mexico youth were using e-cigarettes in 2023, according to early results of the most recent Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey presented to lawmakers Thursday. That’s down from about a quarter of high schoolers vaping in 2021 and a high of about a third in 2019.
County results from the 2021 study show the rates of high school students in Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties who used e-cigarettes were around 24% and 26%, respectively.
There may be a few other reasons e-cigarette use among teens is down, officials say, including higher prices for products.
According to a presentation to lawmakers Thursday from the National Conference of State Legislatures, New Mexico is one of just seven states that taxes vaping products per unit and per price of a product. State statute calls for a 12.5% excise tax on the total value of a bottle of juice meant for vapes and a 50-cent tax on each disposable e-cigarette.
To further address the issue of youth vaping, conference project manager Tammy Hill suggested regulating flavored products.
Lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully to do so in recent years. A bill during the last regular legislative session that would have banned the sale of flavored tobacco products failed to advance out of its first committee.
“We’ve looked at banning flavors, but we’ve heard it gets very, very complex in how you do it,” said Democratic Sen. Martin Hickey of Albuquerque, chair of the tobacco settlement committee.
One of the ways to address both vaping and the use of nicotine pouches is targeted social media advertisements, said Christopher Harris, the Health Department’s public education outreach marketing director.
“If a teen is saying, ‘I love to use Zyn,’ and they’re posting [about it] on social media … we can develop an ad on our social media platforms with one of our vendors to say we’re going to target the keyword ‘Zyn,’ and anytime somebody posts about ‘Zyn’ on their channel, it’ll make that connection, and the ad will theoretically be displayed,” Harris said.
Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, likened the expected rise in nicotine pouch use among young people to turnover in other tobacco products.
“I think we’re going to hear more about how students in New Mexico are going from vaping, because that’s going down, just like tobacco use went down when kids started vaping,” she said. “But Zyn is a product that I think we will hear more about as one of the products that is increasing in use.”
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
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Publish date : 2024-08-23 11:44:00
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