Nearly 1 in 11 teens in the United States has consumed cannabis in an e-cigarette, according to a new report.
The report published in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics follows up on a study published in August concerning the relationship between teen tobacco-use and cannabis use. The study focused largely on the prevalence of teens who use e-cigarettes to smoke tobacco.
Researchers wanted to discover if teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely to use cannabis than those who don’t. It’s previously been shown that teens who smoke regular cigarettes are more likely to consume cannabis.
“E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous—and dangerous—trend among teens,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement September 12. “The FDA is going to continue to work to find out why so many kids are using and abusing these products.”
Vaping is considered to be less harmful than smoking tobacco or cannabis because burning either substance can generate chemicals than can hurt the lungs, but with so little research, the long-term effects of e-cigarettes is still unknown.
In legal states, shoppers can purchase cartridges containing THC that will work with a variety of devices, including Juul, the most popular e-cigarette. Users can easily refill the cartridges with cannabis oil. Juul has been the subject of criticism as many teens are using this particular e-cigarette.
“I get calls every other day about Juuls.” said Professor Richard Miech, who studies drug use trend at the University of Michigan. “Everybody’s talking about Juuls, and there seems to be lots of anecdotal evidence that Juul use has really accelerated just in this particular year.”
“If that’s true … then I would expect to see a very big increase in vaping in the coming years. As vaping in general goes up, then vaping nicotine will go up, and vaping marijuana will go up. I think they’re all grouped together.”
Previous studies have made a connection between vaping and cigarettes, prompting Miech to suggest that vaping is “the first step toward becoming an established cigarette user”.
Juul executive Ashley Gould told “CBS This Morning” back in June that the company did not intend to attract teens to their product and has since restructured its marketing plan.
“I will take the criticism that we should have known. I will take that criticism. But we know now. We’re working very hard. And we are committed,” said Gould.
Some of the health concern is the lack of studies on the risks of vaping. There is little known about the risks of inhaling propylene glycol, an additive in many THC oil cartridges and e-cig juice.
The study also found that males and students living in the same house has a tobacco user were more likely to put cannabis in their e-cigarettes. Of the students who said they had ever used an e-cigarette, nearly a third said they had used one to vape cannabis.
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