Vaping increases the likelihood of young adults stopping smoking, a new study has found.
The research, published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, looked at whether inhaling cannabis or vaping helps or undermines young adults’ attempts to quit smoking.
It found that among 909 participants across the U.S. who were all aged 23, there was an overall reduction in cigarette smoking over five years from 82 per cent to 56 per cent.
Cannabis reduces likelihood of quitting smoking
However, the use of cannabis (inhaled through a vape) significantly reduced the likelihood an individual would quit smoking while vaping nicotine increased their chances.
The report said: “Over time, there was a tendency towards cessation of daily combustible cigarette use among this smoking sample. Smoking/vaping cannabis was associated with a decreased rate of daily combustible cigarette cessation among the sample, whereas ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery system) use was associated with an increased rate of daily smoking cessation.”
The researchers from the University of Washington concluded: “Among young adult daily cigarette smokers, smoking cannabis, on its own, poses a risk to quitting combustible cigarettes, while using ENDS may promote cigarette cessation, possibly through substitution.”
Cannabis use decreased while vape use increased
The study found a reduction in cannabis use from 42 per cent to 31 per cent from age 23 to age 28 while vape use increased from 23 per cent at age 23 to 31 per cent at age 28.
There was also a slight reduction in how many people used both vapes and cannabis, decreasing from nine per cent to eight per cent from age 23 to 28.
The study used data from the Community Youth Development Study (CYDS), a community-randomised trial established in 2003 to assess the effectiveness of the Communities That Care (CTC) system. CTC aims to reduce adolescent drug use and other problem behaviours by using preventative measures.
Vapes more effective than NRT
The findings come after a major Cochrane review earlier this month found vapes are more effective than nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) at helping smokers to quit.
The Cochrane review of 90 studies in the UK, including 29,044 participants, found that vaping leads to an additional four quitters per 100 on average than NRT.
A separate study published last month found that smokers are almost twice as likely to successfully quit cigarettes if they switch to vapes than if they go ‘cold turkey’.
Researchers analysed data from adult smokers in England between 2006 and 2024 who had all reported quitting smoking or attempting to quit in the previous year. It revealed that vapes have been the most popular tool among smokers to help them stop since 2013.
Between 2023 and 2024, vapes were by far the most commonly used stop-smoking aids, chosen by 40.2 per cent of those surveyed. This was followed by non-prescription NRT at 17.3 per cent.
