As public health debate on the pros and cons of ecigarettes
continues, moves to regulate their promotion
and sale are increasingly being proposed and adopted by
governments across the world [6]. A key feature of such
regulation is preventing child access to e-cigarettes.
Thus, understanding the extent of e-cigarette access by
young people and the characteristics of those that access
them will be crucial in informing prevention and control
strategies. Using a sample of over 16,000 14-17 year old
school students in North West England, we found that
almost one in five had either tried or purchased ecigarettes.
Such rapid penetration into teenage culture of
what is essentially a new drug use option is without
precedent. As with findings from studies elsewhere
[7-9], e-cigarette access was most common in students
who smoked conventional cigarettes, particularly those
who smoked in greater quantities. Thus, 67.2% of light