A 2017 survery reports over 50 percent of students in the Roaring Fork Valley have used an electronic vapor product, like an e-cigarette. Now, local municipalities are taking action against youth nicotine use.
Mandy Ivanov is the policy and partnership strategist with Eagle County Public Health and Environment, and Risa Turetsky is the health promotions program administrator with Pitkin County. They said the impact of nicotine on young brains are instrumental to why many cities and counties are passing higher sales taxes, increasing the age to purchase nicotine and tobacco products to 21 and issuing flavor bans.
"80 percent say the reason why they started using a tobacco product was because of the flavor," Turetsky said. "Nobody needs flavors to use any kind of tobacco product."
