One in four Alaskan adults say they have used tobacco products, but different patterns are emerging based on socioeconomic status, geographic location and other factors, the new report said.
By geography, Anchorage had the lowest rate at 20 percent, while North and Southwest Alaska had the highest rates at 45 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
E-cigarette use rose from 18 percent in 2015, the first year the metric was tracked, to 26 percent in 2019.
Youth who use e-cigarettes reportedly rely on social connections to obtain the product. The 2019 data shows that 45 percent of people borrowed or “littered” these products, 14 percent paid someone else to buy them, and 8 percent were gifts from adults. Another 8 percent said they bought these products online.
