Tobacco is often considered the deadliest drug in the United States, primarily because of its addictive nature and long term side effects.

While tobacco is still an issue today, local officials believe that vaping is taking over traditional cigarette smoking among young people.

Steve Kilburn with the Chautauqua County Health Department calls vaping “the new cigarette.”

According to Kilburn, recent surveys show 10-11% of all high school seniors in Chautauqua County report using tobacco at some point.

For vaping, the percentage is close to 33%, meaning that one out of every three students have tried vaping. “Vapes are hugely popular,” he said.

The same survey shows about 27% of high school seniors have vaped marijuana.

Vaping isn’t the only way young people have used marijuana. Overall, the survey notes that about 35% of all high school seniors have used some kind of marijuana, whether it’s from vapes, smoking or ingesting through gummies or some other way.

On top of that, 25% high school seniors who took the survey shared that they had used marijuana in some form in the past 30 days.

The survey results were shared at a recent Health and Human Services Committee meeting of the county legislature.

In a follow up interview, Kilburn noted that the statistics were from a survey done by Prevention Works.

Lucy Price with Prevention Works and Hope Chautauqua said that survey was done in 2023 using Jamestown, Dunkirk and Falconer schools. Prevention Works is currently doing a new survey involving nine high schools from Chautauqua County.

Price has been able to get some confiscated vapes by schools tested. The most recent tests show that the vapes contain about seven to 13 packs of cigarettes worth of nicotine in them.

Price said it can vary, but that a person who uses vapes regularly will go through a single vape in the course of 10-14 days.

The problem is spreading to younger students as well. Price said she has been provided 33 vapes that were collected from elementary students.

Many of the vapes are flavored-based. Price notes that outside of menthol, New York state has banned all flavored vapes, however they’re probably coming from a Reservation or sold illegally by a county business.

Also, in New York it’s illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase any kind of tobacco product, including vapes and cigarettes.

Kilburn noted that while cigarettes have been studied and analyzed for decades, vapes are relatively new, so the long-term health effects aren’t known.

He added that vaping can be seen as an alternative for adults who are addicted to cigarettes as possibly causing “less harm.”

But realistically, there haven’t been a number of people who used vapes for 30 years to know what kind of long-term side effects there are. “It’s a young product,” Kilburn said.

Price said in her work with students, she warns students that vapes should not be seen as the “safer” alternative.

“When I go into a school, I tell kids ‘don’t choose one.’ They’re both dangerous,” she said.

Price believes that vaping has become more popular among school-aged children partly because of the flavor.

Another reason she believes vaping is growing in popularity is because vaping doesn’t have the odors that cigarettes do, which allows teens to use them without adults knowing.

“It’s real easy to get away with. You don’t have that traditional cigarette smell. A lot of the students vape in the bathrooms. They’re even vaping in the classrooms and the auditorium. It’s real easy to go undetected,” Price said.

Also, vapes can be made to appear as other objects.

“There are vapes made to look like highlighters, or USB drives, or some item that a student might normally carry around,” Kilburn said.

While electronic cigarettes have been around for a while, Price said it seems like in the last five years or so the popularity has really increased among students.

“When tobacco sales were dropping and the vapes came out, I don’t know the exact numbers, but I have heard that vapes are passing the traditional tobacco use,” she said.

To help students understand the dangers of vaping, Price said she does awareness presentations. She’s also working with schools in helping them develop policies and treatment options for students struggling with vaping.

“We’re looking at different avenues as far as getting them (the students) the help and getting services that they need that can hopefully help them quit or cut back,” she said.