Charles A. Gardner, PhD Profile picture
Apr 22, 2022 β€’ 16 tweets β€’ 7 min read β€’ Read on X
OK, so... unlike nicotine:
- alcohol (and cannabis) intoxicate
- alcohol abuse actually DOES harm developing brains
- teen binge drinking causes 3,500 deaths every year

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(2)
FAR fewer teens vape than drink. FAR fewer teens vape nicotine daily than binge drink.

It's very clear here, that vape firms do a FAR better job keeping their products away from teens than alcohol companies do.

So why the irrational #MoralPanic over teen nicotine vaping?
(3)
So... Why the irrational #MoralPanic over teen nicotine vaping?

I assume that's because 4 decades of tobacco control messaging have convinced the public and physicians that nicotine is FAR more harmful than alcohol or cannabis.
rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-l….
(4)
Seriously though... nicotine? Doesn't intoxicate. Slightly increases focus, attention and memory, while paradoxically reducing stress and anxiety.

Difficult to see how any of that is bad.
rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/…
(5)
But the 1988 @Surgeon_General report says, "The pharmacologic and behavioral PROCESSES that determine TOBACCO addiction are SIMILAR to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine."
wwwn.cdc.gov/osh_pub_catalo….
(6)
Ever since 1988, based on the above statement (processes; tobacco; similar), people in tobacco control, and journalists, have been stating confidently that "nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine."

That sounds like a harm. But it's a wild exaggeration.
(7)
So how dependence-forming is nicotine, really? Rats don't like it (it's super difficult to get them to push a lever for it, though they're happy to press the lever for cocaine).
(8)
...and the @US_FDA says, very clearly, that nicotine patches and nicotine gum are not dependence-forming or "subject to abuse."
federalregister.gov/documents/2013…
(9)
So... how is the pharmaceutical grade nicotine in a vape, #snus or nicotine pouch magically transformed into "highly addictive"...

...when the exact same molecule in nicotine patches and gum is not even dependence-forming?

Or is wild exaggeration now a public health tactic?
(10)
How is it possible for nicotine to be "highly addictive," but for US high school nicotine vaping to drop 60% in just two years?
(11)
Which it clearly did. Down by nearly 2/3rds in 2 years. The kids just quit. This is NOT consistent with "highly addictive" claims.
(12)
So... Did those kids quit vaping and switch to smoking to get their "highly addictive" nicotine fix? Woah. No.

Seriously no. US teen cigarette smoking has plummeted to 1.9%. Only 0.38% now smoke frequently (>20 days/month).
(13)
But maybe kids who vaped nicotine in high school will transition to cigarette smoking once they become young adults? No... That's wrong too.

Among all US adults, the age group with the steepest rate of smoking decline is - you guessed it - young adults.
(14)
So, basically, in the United States of America, smoking is dead. As this cohort of teens and young adults ages, smoking is dead.

And here's a little secret: Total teen nicotine use is lower now than at any time in the past 50 years.
(15)
Which brings us back to today. Again I ask, why is teen use of a mildly psychoactive drug (nicotine) which is no more harmful than caffeine, which they use far less today than at any time in the past 50 years, and use FAR less than alcohol, causing so much #MoralPanic?
(16/16)
Obviously, teens should not vape, drink or smoke. But only one of these things helps US adults quit using a deadly thing (cigarettes) that kills 480,000/year.

Alcohol? Legal. Cannabis? Lgalization is roaring ahead. Why is nicotine the new target in the War on Drugs?

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More from @ChaunceyGardner

Aug 29
Imagine if 7.7% of teens eat ice cream at least once in the past 30 days.

The field of Ice Cream Control calls that "current use."

This number has dropped 61% over the past 4 years.

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(2/5)
90% of "current ice cream eaters" ate 'flavored' ice cream.
10% ate coffee flavored ice cream.

For some strange reason, the field of Ice Cream Control calls artificial coffee flavor "unflavored."

25% of "current ice cream eaters" ate it daily.Image
(3/5)
Daily ice cream use is associated with teen obesity (which actually IS epidemic)

7.7% x 25% = 1.9%

So only 1.9% ate ice cream daily and may become obese. Which is hardly any, and down 61% from 4 years ago.

Obesity causes heart disease, diabetes and cancer deaths. Image
Read 5 tweets
Aug 14
Milestones in vaping history
2019: US-only outbreak of vape-related lung injuries caused by adulterated illicit THC vapes.

@CDCTobaccoFree deliberately blames this on legal nicotine vapes. Invents acronym "E-cigarette or Vaping-Related Lung Injuries" (EVALI).
(1/4) πŸ‘‡Image
(2/4)
While @CDCTobaccoFree continues to claim "EVALI" is caused by nicotine vapes ("e-cigarettes"), numerous state health departments are telling a very different story.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 17
Welcome to How to Lie with Percentages 101
This seems like a minor point in @FDATobacco Director King's recent Op/Ed in Nature. Here is a quote:

"In 2021, 11.3% of high-school students used e-cigarettes, compared with 4.5% of adults."

It's misleading in 4 ways.
(1/6) πŸ‘‡Image
(2/6)
First, it's not 2021 anymore. The latest data from the @CDCgov NYTS and NHIS surveys are easily available to the authors.

In 2023, 10% of US high school students vape nicotine "at least once in the past month." And 7% of adults do so "daily or some days."
(3/6)
2nd, why high school? The 2023 average for all US middle and high school students is 7.7%.


7.0% of all US adults vape nicotine as of Q3 2023.


Very similar. How awkward is THAT?cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
wwwn.cdc.gov/NHISDataQueryT…
Read 6 tweets
Apr 2
Humans have been burning leaves of the tobacco plant, and inhaling the smoke, for well over 8,000 years now.

It had ceremonial purposes, presumably when nicotine's psychoactive effects were needed: increased focus, attention and memory.

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(2)
For thousands of years, tobacco leaf smoking was only a thing in the Americas.

In the Old World plenty of people smoked, but not tobacco leaves. THEY smoked cannabis or opium.


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(3)
Then THIS guy, Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), brought tobacco leaves back to England from the New World.

He was beheaded in 1618... but not for smoking. The Spanish Ambassador demanded it, so King James approved it.

Smoking caught on in England and the Old World. Image
Read 14 tweets
Mar 21
Congratulations. You have invited PAVE to tell you about the dangers of vaping. Here's a head's up on what they are going to tell you....

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(2)
"Middle school use is up."

#FactCheck: MISLEADING. Middle & high school nicotine vaping dropped 61% over the past 4 years. 1.9% of teens vape nicotine daily, so may be 'hooked' (down >50% in the past 4 years).

2019:
2023: cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…Image
(3)
"More than 1 in 4 teens use e-cigarettes daily."

#FactCheck: FALSE. 7.7% of middle & high schoolers vape nicotine "at least once in the past 30 days."

Of THOSE, 25.2% (1 in 4) vape daily = 1.9%. So 1 in 53 vape nicotine daily. Not 1 in 4.
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
Read 18 tweets
Jan 6
Consider "the Standard Narrative" *pushed* by tobacco control:

β€’ Whole new generation addicted to nicotine
β€’ E-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking
β€’ Ecig use increased exponentially, especially among teens
β€’ They target teens
β€’ Nicotine harms developing brains

(1/X) πŸ‘‡πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡Image
(1a) Where is this "whole new generation addicted to nicotine"?
In the USA, teen nicotine USE is lower today than at any time in the past 50 years.
#FactCheckMe: @CDCgov and @NIH survey dataImage
(1b) Where is this "whole new generation "addicted" to nicotine"?
The above numbers do not measure "addiction." For that, we need to look at frequent and daily use.
#FactCheckMe: @CDCgov survey dataImage
Read 17 tweets

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