One in 11 American Teens Have Vaped Cannabis

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap]ccording to a school-based survey, 2.1 million American teens have vaped cannabis, and one in 11 U.S. teens have tried vaping cannabis extracts at least once.

The results were published on Sept. 17 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The study, “Prevalence of Cannabis Use in Electronic Cigarettes Among US Youth,” extracted data from the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which surveyed students in grades 6 to 12.

For the study, 20,675 middle school and high school students participated and 71.6 percent of the students responded. They were asked whether or not they have tried an e-cigarette device to vape cannabis oil, wax or flower. 8.9 percent of students said that they have tried vaping cannabis at least once. Male students were more likely to admit to vaping cannabis, at 10.6 percent.

“The health risks of vaping reside not only in the vaping devices, but in the social environment that comes with it,” said University of Michigan researcher Richard Miech. Kids who vape are more likely to become known as drug users and make friends with drug users, he said, adding that “hanging out with drug users is a substantial risk factor for future drug use.” The University of Michigan conducted a similar survey last December and their results were consistent with the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

There is one positive takeaway from recent related studies—millenials prefer vaping over smoking—which is the lesser of two evils. While little is known about the long-term effects of vaping, we know with certainty that smoking tobacco is significantly bad for anyone’s health.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is aware of the current vaping epidemic, and took action against over 1,300 vape product retailers and five major manufacturers. Five tobacco vape brands, Juul, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu E-cigs and Logic, have 60 days to submit a plan to the FDA on how they will prevent teen use. If they are unable to provide a plan, the FDA will pull their products off of shelves.

Judging by the recent release of studies, vaping cannabis is equally a problem among underage American teens.