The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement on Thursday outlining a policy framework aimed at curbing sources of youth nicotine addiction.

Planned policies include limiting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to in-person, age-restricted locations such as tobacco shops. The FDA also intends to ban combustible menthol cigarettes, and to ban future introduction of flavored cigar products into the market.

In the statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb cites data from the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that between 2017 and 2018, e-cigarette usage increased 78 percent among high school students and 48 percent among middle school students. He attributes this rise to the marketing of nicotine products with “obviously kid-friendly flavors,” as well as the accessibility of these products to users under the age of 18.

Gottlieb states that users who begin using nicotine products as teens are more likely to try combustible cigarettes later in life, and that an increase of youth nicotine use thus creates a “large pool of future risk.” The FDA has made efforts in the past months to shrink this pool of potential adult users, including a call for manufacturers to take steps to reduce youth accessibility and appeal of nicotine products.

The FDA would restrict the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to age-restricted, in-person locations, meaning that such products would not be carried in general retail locations such as gas stations. In addition, the FDA plans to identify heightened measures for age-verification that could be adopted by online retailers in order to prevent youths from purchasing these products.

The policy outline also includes a complete ban of menthol in combustible tobacco products. Gottlieb highlights the danger of menthol cigarettes as an introduction to combustible nicotine products, citing the fact that 54 percent of youth smokers and 70 percent of African-American youth smokers aged 14-17 use menthol cigarettes. The FDA also intends to impose a product standard banning the future introduction of flavored cigar products into the market.