A new study examining the impact of San Francisco's 2018 ban on non-tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes and flavoured tobacco products has found that cigarette smoking increased in the wake of the ban, marking yet another study to have found that smoking rates increase when access to flavoured vaping products is limited.
The Study
The researchers behind the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Addictive Behaviors Reports, used crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk to survey San Francisco residents between the ages of 18 and 34 who reported prior use of tobacco products. The study's participants were administered a survey in which they were asked about their use of such products before and after the city's ban went into effect.
Smoking Rates Increased After Flavours Were Banned
The researchers found that the use of flavoured tobacco products decreased from 81% to 69% for participants aged 18-24 and from 85% to 76% for participants aged 25-34. The use of flavoured e-cigs decreased from 57% to 45% for participants aged 18-24 and from 56% to 48% for participants aged 25-34. Cigar use also dropped. However, cigarette smoking increased.
As most of the study's participants reported being able to acquire flavoured products despite the citywide ban, it perhaps comes as little to no surprise that the researchers found that 65% of the study's participants did not believe that the ban had been properly enforced. Participants reported being able to acquire flavoured products in multiple ways while the ban was in effect.
The study's authors concluded that while local bans can reduce overall cigar and e-cig use, they may lead to increased cigarette smoking.
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