The federal government Thursday reported a 78% jump in high schoolers using e-cigarettes. Now, the FDA  wants to restrict access to e-cigarettes and ban the making of traditional menthol cigarettes in the hopes of halting that increase.

These proposed changes are just two of a series of proposals FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, is making.  

"They shouldn't be able to go out and just buy stuff like that," said Tonia Garcia as she sat waiting to pick up her niece after school. 

A mom, she'd never heard of Juul e-cigarettes before Thursday.  But she agrees they're probably not a good idea for kids.

"I mean, kids shouldn't be smoking at all," Garcia said.  "That's just what I think."

In his announcement, Gottlieb said the sweet flavors Juuls come in, like mango, creme, and vanilla, are a main culprit in the sudden in teen usage of e-cigarettes.  The number of high schoolers vaping went up 78% in one  year, middle schoolers increased usage by 48%..

"It probably shouldn't be in the hands of kids under 18," said Aventino Martinez-Garcia, a college student.  "But if there's no rules against it, then kids are going to go out and get them."

That's why the FDA commissioner wants to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, requiring photo identification for anyone else to purchase them.

 Martinez-Garcia says that wouldn't have stopped his high school classmates.

"It's something that they're going to find cool and they're going to want to continue to do it," he said.  "They like the rebellious factor of it."

Gottlieb fears teens would turn to traditional menthol cigarettes if denied e-cigs.  He also wants to ban those, as well as flavored cigars.

"The bottom line is that these efforts to address flavors and protect youth would dramatically impact the ability of American kids to access tobacco products that we k now are both appealing and addicting," Gottlieb said.  He added, "Almost all adult smokers started smoking when they were kids.  Nearly 90% start smoking before the age of 18, and 95% by age 21."

"We do a lot of menthol cigarettes," said Tania Akter who runs a local convenience store.

Akter says young adults are her biggest buyers of menthol cigarettes.  And there are a lot of variations on the menthol flavoring.

"Every cigarette company, I noticed, they are making different flavors, but it's still menthol," said Akter.

Akter says bans of menthol cigarettes might cause a dip in business at first but it's worth it for the public good.

"We can make a business anyway," she said.

The FDA has already taken the preliminary steps to making these changes. Gottlieb plans to work to  finish the process as quickly as possible.

"The bottom line is this," Gottlieb said,  "I will not allow a generation of children to become addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes.  We won't let this pool of kids, a pool of potential future smokers, of future disease and death, to continue to build.  We'll take whatever action is necessary to stop these trends from continuing."