There’s a public health emergency unfolding right before our eyes — and the cause couldn’t be clearer.

More than one in four Connecticut high school students (27%) use e-cigarettes. And while youth e-cigarette use nationally has declined from record-high levels reached in 2019, it remains a serious public health problem. According to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, over two million middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the first half of 2021, even as many schools remained closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey underscored that flavored products are driving youth use as 85% of youth e-cigarette users report using flavored products, with fruit, candy/desserts/other sweets, mint and menthol reported as the most popular flavors. Indicating the addictiveness of the products now dominating the market, 43.6% of high school e-cigarette users report frequent use (on at least 20 days a month) and 27.6% report daily use.

The main cause of the problem was Juul, a sleek, high-tech e-cigarette that looks like a USB flash drive – and is small and easy to hide, came in sweet flavors that enticed kids and delivers a powerful nicotine hit. One Juul pod delivers as much nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes.

But Juul isn’t the only problem. For years, thousands of e-cigarette flavors and 200 cigar flavors lured and hooked kids. Today, many of the most popular products and flavors remain readily available, including the e-cigarette brands that have the largest market share or are most popular with kids, such as Juul, most Vuse products, NJOY, blu, Smok and Suorin. These flavored tobacco products undermine Colorado’s efforts to reduce youth tobacco use.

Tobacco companies also continue to aggressively market menthol-favored cigarettes to kids, African Americans, Latinos and other demographic groups as they have for decades. Youth smokers are more likely to use menthol cigarettes than any other age group. Menthol cigarettes pose a tremendous public health threat – they make it easier to start and harder to quit smoking. African Americans smoke menthol cigarettes at high rates and quit smoking at lower rates, and African-American men have high death rates from lung cancer. That’s why the NAACP and others want to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes – because they hurt black communities especially.

Connecticut can protect our kids by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products, one of the most promising ways to prevent the industry from addicting our kids.

Tobacco companies also continue to aggressively market menthol-favored cigarettes to kids, African Americans, Latinos and other demographic groups as they have for decades. Youth smokers are more likely to use menthol cigarettes than any other age group. Menthol cigarettes pose a tremendous public health threat – they make it easier to start and harder to quit smoking. African Americans smoke menthol cigarettes at high rates and quit smoking at lower rates, and African-American men have high death rates from lung cancer. That’s why the NAACP and others want to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes – because they hurt black communities especially.

Connecticut can protect our kids by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products, one of the most promising ways to prevent the industry from addicting our kids.