Can Minors Use E-cigarettes?

Can minors use e-cigarettes? With the booming e-cigarette market, many e-cigarette brands have launched a wide variety of novel flavors. Their marketing is also often tied to events such as music festivals where young people gather, creating a fashionable and trendy brand image that attracts many teenagers who like to follow trends and try new things.
 
Many merchants focus their promotion on “helping people quit smoking,” with traditional smokers as their main target group. Others emphasize “trendy” and “cool,” expanding their target audience to younger consumers and potentially attracting non-smokers as well. Among them, minors are especially vulnerable to temptation.

According to data released by the FDA on November 15, 2018, about two-thirds (67.8%) of children aged 12 to 17 in the United States use e-cigarettes. Teenagers are becoming a major user group for e-cigarettes worldwide.

In recent months, in areas including Guishan Lake District in Guiyang, Guizhou Province; Xiamen, Fujian Province; Weifang, Shandong Province; Xiangjiang Road in Huangdao District, Qingdao; Danzhou, Hainan Province; Guilin, Guangxi; Xi’an, Shaanxi Province; Zhengzhou, Henan Province; and Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, media reports have said that local primary and secondary school shops are selling large quantities of e-cigarettes to students.

Last August, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a notice requiring a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. However, sales targeting minors have still not been effectively curbed.

Although many online shops clearly state that “minors are not allowed to use e-cigarettes,” there is neither an age verification step when placing an order nor any discouragement from customer service. Some e-cigarette vending machines in shopping malls also only require customers to scan a code and select a product before they can obtain e-cigarettes directly from the machine.

The low barrier to entry in the e-cigarette industry has drawn many investors into the market, and gaps in regulatory policy have increased uncertainty, leading to widespread disorder in the e-cigarette market. To prevent teenagers from smoking, the key lies in legislation.

On July 23, Mao Qunan, Director of the Planning Department of the National Health Commission, revealed at a press conference that the commission was working with relevant departments to study e-cigarette regulation and planned to regulate e-cigarettes through legislation.