Study: Teens Using E-Cigarettes to Vape Cannabis
Of nearly 4,000 CT teens surveyed, almost one in five use vape pens for tobacco and pot
Of nearly 4,000 CT teens surveyed, almost one in five use vape pens for tobacco and pot
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High schoolers who vape are 27 times more likely than adults who also use the devices to use them for consuming pot [Credit: TBEC Review] |
The first evidence of high school students using e-cigarettes to vaporize marijuana has been recorded in a study published in the September 7 issue of the journal Pediatrics. Meghan Morean, lead author of the study, is an assistant professor of psychology at Oberlin College in Ohio as well as an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. The Yale study, entitled High School Students' Use of Electronic Cigarettes to Vaporize Cannabis, involved surveying the recreational drug habits of close to 4,000 teenagers in Connecticut.
In light of the ever-increasing popularity of tobacco vaporization paraphernalia, a noticeable parallel has emerged that highlights the easy access to such devices and the unavoidable lure of consuming pot through them. Researchers are concerned that such actions will expose teenagers to unusually high concentrations of THC, one of the main active ingredients, known as cannabinoids, found in female Cannabis flowers.
Meghan Morean, in an email to Reuters Health, clarified that, "Forms of Cannabis that can be vaporized, like hash oil, can be many times stronger than marijuana that is smoked.
The Yale study showed that eighteen percent of teens who had used vape pens for tobacco had also vaporized weed in some form, including hash oil, shatter and wax.
Compared to adults who use vaping devices, Morean and her colleagues found that teens were twenty-seven times more likely to use them to consume Cannabis products.
An August study claimed that American teenagers who try e-cigarettes could be twice as likely to end up smoking regular cigarettes than their peers who had never used vape pens.
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