Vaporizing, or vaping as it’s known in short, is increasing in popularity across the United States, but there’s one state in particular where its popularity exceeds all others and that state is apparently Oklahoma.
According to new research out of the New York University School of Medicine, it’s Oklahoma’s tobacco laws and regulations, or rather, lack thereof, that makes it an ideal location for first-time vapers.
Omar El-Shahawy, MD, MPH, PhD, the lead of author of the study, explained that when states have “good tobacco policies in place,” the policies deter use of tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and other types of vaporizers. And as Oklahoma’s policies are lax in comparison to other states across the country, it makes for a somewhat ideal environment for folks to try vaping.
“Once you have good tobacco policies in place, it’s going to deter use of those products, so Oklahoma is really lagging behind if you compare it to other states in the U.S.”
In other words, states with solid tobacco control policies and regulations in place not only have less smokers per capita, they also have less e-cig users. At least, that’s what the study’s findings suggest.
So just how high is e-cig use in Oklahoma? According to the American Lung Association (ALA) data cited by the researchers in their study, Oklahoma has the highest rate of e-cig use at 10.3 percent.
As for the state with the lowest rate of e-cig use, that honor is bestowed upon none other than Delaware which was found to have an e-cig use rate of just 2.7 percent.
Given that research shows vaping to likely be less harmful than smoking, the state that could stand to benefit them most from smokers switching to vaping is West Virginia, which at 26.1 percent, has the highest rate of cigarette use in the country.
The big takeaway from the study, in a sense, is that states with strong tobacco control measures in place not only have less smokers, they also have less e-cig users. Subsequently, such state-level measures to combat tobacco use among Americans are likely have an impact on e-cig use, or so the study’s findings seem to suggest.
The study’s findings were published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
In other news, a recently published vaping study conducted by researchers at the New York University College of Global Public Health has found vaping to be safer than smoking and a separate study out of NYU has found that vaping nicotine may increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.
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