Teen tobacco use has been falling for decades, declining by more than 93% in Michigan from 2001 to 2021.

The substantial decline in youth tobacco use is no doubt a result of both greater awareness about the health risks as well as laws designed to discourage smoking.

But emerging trends in youth tobacco use — including e-cigarette use — require continued efforts to update existing laws, increase funding for prevention and cessation programs, and adopt evidence-based strategies to protect young people.

Many of the most effective health policies to reduce teen smoking, like the excise tax on cigarettes or bans on flavored cigarettes, have not been expanded to e-cigarettes in Michigan. Companies benefit from that lack of regulation, specifically appealing to young people by offering e-cigarettes in candy and fruit flavors with colorful packaging.

As a result, teens are eight times more likely to report using e-cigarettes, which can still contain nicotine and other harmful chemicals. Nicotine is especially dangerous in adolescence, when the brain is still developing, and can have harmful effects on youth mental health.

Just before the Michigan Legislature recently adjourned for the year, lawmakers introduced a new package of bills that seeks to reduce teen smoking and enable better regulation of the industry. The Protect MI Kids legislation would end the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, tax e-cigarette and vaping products containing nicotine, and increase funding for smoking prevention and cessation programs.

The legislation would also require tobacco retailers to be licensed, enabling the state to enforce laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors, and repeal ineffective policies that punish kids for buying and using tobacco, among other positive changes.

Many of the policies included in the package would bring Michigan better in line with the majority of other states. Thirty states — including all of our neighbors: Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin — currently tax e-cigarettes, and 34 states already require tobacco retailers to be licensed.

Some of the policies also expand regulation on traditional cigarettes, raising the excise tax for the first time in nearly 20 years and ending the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes.

The additional tax on cigarettes would be used to fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs, an area that has long been underfunded in Michigan compared to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Strengthening policies shown to reduce teen smoking would have long-term positive health impacts. In Michigan, 16,200 adults die from smoking-related illnesses each year. The majority of daily smokers began smoking in adolescence and young adulthood, pointing to the importance of policies to reduce the prevalence of smoking among youth.

Young people of all races and ethnic backgrounds use tobacco products and face the risk of addiction to nicotine, but disparities exist because of differences in social, economic, and environmental factors, as well as, in some cases, predatory marketing strategies by tobacco companies.

Aggressive marketing of menthol cigarettes in Black communities has contributed to racial disparities in health, as menthol cigarettes are more addictive. Research has also demonstrated higher prevalence of smoking among American Indian, rural, and LGBTQ+ youth, contributing to tobacco-related health disparities.

While rates of smoking have long been declining in both urban and rural communities, young people in rural areas continue to face higher risk of smoking. The higher prevalence may be because of socioeconomic factors, easier access, greater exposure to cigarette advertising, and weaker enforcement of anti-tobacco regulations, among other differences.

Cigarette use on the 2020 Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth survey was highest among rural counties, including in Alcona, Alpena, and Montmorency counties, where 5.9% of high school students reported smoking cigarettes.

Updating and expanding our state tobacco laws to reflect changes in the industry and trends in teen smoking is necessary to ensure we are protecting the health of young Michiganders and reducing smoking-related health disparities. In addition to the policies promoted in the Protect MI Kids package, Michigan must continue to collect quality data, such as that provided by statewide surveys, to help quantify changes in smoking patterns so we can better understand the effects of policy changes.

Anne Kuhnen is Kids Count policy director at the Michigan League for Public Policy.