|
 |
CNN
Teen vaping continues to rise while other
drug use declines, survey finds
By Jacqueline Howard, CNN
December 17, 2018
(CNN) Vaping among America's teenagers continues to climb, while the
use of other substances -- such as alcohol and opioids -- has declined
in recent years, according to a new report.
Monday's report, called Monitoring the Future, comes from the
University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and is based on
an annual survey of drug and alcohol use and attitudes among eighth-,
10th- and 12th-graders in the United States. This year's survey
included 44,482 students from 392 public and private schools across the
country.
Behind drinking alcohol, vaping was the second-most common form of
substance use, the study showed, with 17.6% of eighth-graders, 32.3% of
10th-graders and 37.3% of 12th-graders reporting vaping in the past
year. Last year, the annual survey found that prevalence of vaping was
13.3% among eighth-graders, 23.9% among 10th-graders and 27.8% among
12th-graders.
So what's in those e-cigarettes?
Vaping involves using an electronic cigarette, hookah or similar device
to inhale certain vapors or aerosols, which could contain substances
such as nicotine, marijuana or flavoring.
"What we are seeing is a change in the patterns of drug taking among
teenagers in that they are the lowest that we've seen for many years,"
said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
which funded the report.
"So we have very good news," she said, "but at the same time, we have
to be vigilant, because of this very high uptake and embracing of
vaping by teenagers that could lead them then to the administration of
other drugs."
Vaping: 'A real problem'
This year is the second in which the Monitoring the Future survey asked
high schoolers about vaping specific substances: nicotine, marijuana or
"just flavoring."
Flavoring was the most commonly reported substance among eighth-graders
at 15.1%, followed by nicotine at 10.9% and then marijuana at 4.4%.
Tenth-graders reported identical rates for flavoring and nicotine, but
12.4% reported vaping marijuana. Among 12th-graders, 29.7% reported
vaping nicotine, 25.7% flavoring and 13.1% marijuana.
"You're seeing right now that 30% of 12th-graders last year were
exposed to nicotine," Volkow said.
"Another issue of concern is, these devices are very efficient at
delivering drugs rapidly into your brain and, in so doing, deliver the
drugs in ways that make them more addictive -- and so it's not just
nicotine. Now we also know that they are using it for 9THC," or
tetrahydrocannabinol, a cannabinoid chemical in marijuana, she said.
Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a professor of pediatrics in Stanford
University's Division of Adolescent Medicine, called this increase in
vaping alarming but not surprising because of new products, such as
those from popular e-cigarette maker Juul.
"However, since MTF doesn't appear to separate out vaping vs. Juuling
in their survey, it is hard to know what the youth are using,"
Halpern-Felsher said of the new report.
"The overall decline or stabilization of other drug use is promising,
although the increase in vaping marijuana is concerning," she said.
"Clearly, youth drug prevention messages needs to go beyond
conventional drugs and include all forms of nicotine and vaping."
The overall increase in vaping in the survey appears to be consistent
with data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
showing a 78% increase in youth vaping between 2017 and 2018, said Dr.
Pamela Ling, a professor of medicine at the University of California,
San Francisco, who works with the school's Center for Tobacco Control
Research and Education and was not involved with the new report.
The Food and Drug Administration "has also recognized an 'epidemic' of
youth vaping. The consistency of these data suggests this is a real
problem," Ling said.
"While we see declines in cigarette smoking among youth, the increases
in vaping may lead to overall rates of tobacco or nicotine use
increasing. We also know from many longitudinal studies of youth that
those who use e-cigarettes are about three times more likely to start
smoking cigarettes," she said. "The increase in vaping goes against the
trends for all other drugs and alcohol, which are declining. That's a
problem."
|
|
|
|
