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E-Cigarette and Vaping Prevention Resources

Provides resources regarding use of electronic cigarettes, electronic hookahs, and other aerosol emitting devices, with or without nicotine content, that mimic the use of tobacco products.

The California Department of Education Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) Office invests its efforts in four major areas to prevent tobacco use among California school students, including local funding allocation, ongoing program technical assistance, and program evaluation and data reporting. The TUPE Office works closely with the California Tobacco Education Research and Oversight Committee, the California Department of Public Health, and University of California Tobacco-Related Disease and Research Program to enhance program leadership and improvement. The office also actively collaborates with non-state agencies such as California Youth Advocacy Network and Stanford School of Medicine in developing tobacco prevention related resources for local educational agencies.

The TUPE Office's main mission is to build a tobacco-free school and family environment for each of the six million California school students. As a continuous effort to enhance the campaign against the latest invasion of the USB shaped e-cigarettes on school campuses and the irreversible negative impact on California school students, the TUPE Office provides below quick facts and resources for education administrators and parents to join this important task force.

In February 2021, the TUPE Office, thorough it’s Capacity Building Provider (Orange County Department of Education), launched a new website. The TUPE website External link opens in new window or tab., provides a myriad of youth tobacco-use prevention resources, including content that addresses e-cigarettes. The website includes content relevant to youth tobacco-use prevention educators as well as the general public.

What is an e-cigarette?

  • E-cigarettes create an aerosol by using a battery to heat up liquid with high concentration of additives.
  • Users inhale this aerosol into their lungs
  • The aerosol does not have the traditional smell of a regular cigarette because the liquid can come in different flavors such as cool mint, catering to the users' preferences.
  • E-cigarettes can also be used to deliver cannabinoids from marijuana, as well as other drugs.
  • The most popular e-cigarettes are shaped like USB flash drives, almost unnoticeable to other people because of their size, shape, and smell.

What is the current trend of e-cigarette use among American youth?

  • The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified e-cigarettes as the most commonly used tobacco product among youth since 2014, in its youth and tobacco use fast facts, based on the 2019-20 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
  • The CDC reported that current use of e-cigs decreased between 2019 and 2020, from 10.5% to 4.7% for middle school students, and 27.5% to 19.6% for high school students. The same decrease was seen (or observed) for current cigarette use between 2011 and 2020, from 4.3% to 1.6% for middle students and from 15.8% to 4.6% for high school students.
  • The California Healthy Kids Factsheet (17) reported a similar decrease among California high school students in current tobacco use. For cigarette use, the decrease is from 9% to 2% between 2011 and 2019, while for e-cigarette use, the decrease is from 14% to 10% between 2013 and 2019.
  • For current cigarette use, all racial/ethnic groups saw declines, except Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, which saw a slight increase in cigarette use (4% to 6%). The greatest decline in current cigarette use was seen in American Indian/Alaska Native students (14% to 2%).
  • For e-cigarette use, a trend of tobacco and marijuana co-use was identified. Based on the 2017-19 state survey, e-cigarettes/vaping devices gained popularity as a delivery method for marijuana (6%) and flavored products without nicotine or other drugs (6%). Of the students reporting using e-cigarettes to consume nicotine, about half also reported using e-cigarettes to consume marijuana/THC (43%) and flavored products without drugs (52%).

What impacts does it have on school age children?

  • Depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders
  • Nicotine addiction
  • Difficulty paying attention and concentrating
  • Reduced impulse control
  • Injury from potential device explosion

Why are e-cigarettes so attractive to youth?

  • Availability of e-cigarettes in candy, fruit, and alcohol flavors
  • False belief that e-cigarettes are harmless
  • Curiosity
  • Social media influence

What actions can county, district, and school administrators and parents take to support the e-cigarettes prevention campaign?

Education Administrators

County Office of Education TUPE Coordinator contact information

Parents/Legal Guardians

Nicotine Delivery Devices in Schools (PDF)
February 14, 2018: Letter addressing nicotine delivery devices in schools sent to all Tobacco-Use Prevention Education grant administrators.

Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA) External link opens in new window or tab.
A Stanford research group which analyzes the effects of tobacco advertising, marketing, and promotion; provides resources related to ENDS marketing and advertising.

Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) External link opens in new window or tab.
Administered by the University of California, this is a program of the Research Grants Program Office, Office of Research and Graduate Studies at the University of California, Office of the President. Includes a Webinar, "E-Cigarettes: The Vapor This Time?"

Questions: Chunxia Wang | cwang@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0283 
Last Reviewed: Wednesday, June 28, 2023