March 28, 2024

Major Increase Reported in Cannabis Vaping Among All Adolescents in U.S.

Marijuana vaping is increasing as the most popular technique of marijuana shipment amongst all adolescents in the United States, as is the frequency of cannabis vaping, according to research at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The scientists found that the frequency of vaping cannabis among teenagers from all group groups is reported at 6 or more times per month, and rising faster than periodic usage. Those who smoke and vape nicotine are more than 40 times more likely to vape and smoke cannabis.
Past 30-day regular (3.8 to 2.1 percent) and occasional (6.9 to 4.4 percent) cannabis use without vaping decreased. Specific groups, such as Hispanic/Latino or lower socioeconomic status teenagers, experienced particularly notable increases in frequent cannabis usage with vaping (e.g., occurrence amongst Hispanic/Latino adolescents in 2017: 2.2 percent, 2019: 6.7 percent).

According to brand-new research, vaping is increasing as the most popular approach of cannabis shipment among all adolescents in the U.S.
Largest increases found amongst high-school elders, tripling in 2 years from 5 to 14 percent.
Marijuana vaping is increasing as the most popular approach of cannabis delivery among all teenagers in the United States, as is the frequency of cannabis vaping, according to research at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The researchers found that the frequency of vaping marijuana among adolescents from all demographic groups is reported at six or more times per month, and increasing faster than periodic usage. Those who smoke and vape nicotine are more than 40 times more most likely to smoke and vape cannabis.
Till now, time trends in vaping use had mostly gone unstudied including trends in usage frequency, emerging disparities, and co-occurring usage of other compounds, which are all vital for surveillance and programmatic public health efforts. The findings were recently published in the journal Addiction.

” Heavy and regular use of marijuana is increasing amongst U.S. adolescents, and vaped systems for products for both marijuana and nicotine are growing in number so understanding the prevalence and patterns of frequent marijuana vaping is very important public health info for avoidance,” said Katherine Keyes, PhD, professor of public health at Columbia Mailman School. “Given increasing concerns about cannabis vaping in terms of safety, and potential for shift to cannabis use condition particularly at frequent levels of use, these outcomes suggest a need for public health intervention and increased policy.”
The findings are based upon the U.S.-based representative annual study, Monitoring the Future, a population of 51,052 school-attending adolescents. Schools were randomly picked and welcomed to get involved for two years.
Previous 30-day regular marijuana use with vaping increased (2.1 percent to 5.4 percent), while occasional usage with vaping increased from 1.2 to 3.5 percent from 2017 to 2019. Past 30-day frequent (3.8 to 2.1 percent) and occasional (6.9 to 4.4 percent) marijuana usage without vaping decreased. Certain groups, such as Hispanic/Latino or lower socioeconomic status adolescents, experienced especially significant boosts in frequent cannabis usage with vaping (e.g., occurrence amongst Hispanic/Latino adolescents in 2017: 2.2 percent, 2019: 6.7 percent).
According to Keyes, tobacco use and e-cigarettes, in addition to binge drinking, are strongly connected to frequent cannabis use– both vaping and non-vaping. The evidence indicates that young people who use nicotine, especially through vaporizers, are more likely to subsequently utilize vaped marijuana.
Adolescents who reported smoking and vaping nicotine on more than 10 celebrations of binge drinking, were 42 times and 10 times more likely to report previous 30-day marijuana use with vaping, respectively, compared to no usage.
” Given that it is much easier for adolescents to hide vaping than cannabis cigarette smoking, this mode of marijuana use might assist in more regular usage,” comments Keyes.
Frequency increased throughout grades, with the biggest problem among high school senior citizens for whom past-30-day occurrence nearly tripled from 5 percent (2017) to 14 percent (2019 ). The 1 year increase in this grade from 2018 to 2019 (7.5 percent to 14 percent) is the 2nd biggest one-year increase in any kind of compound usage frequency ever tracked by Monitoring the Future.
” This continuing frequency of day-to-day marijuana use, which in 2020 use was greater than any year because 1981, is of additional alarm for several factors, observes Keyes. “Heavy levels of marijuana usage are connected with unfavorable cognitive and social results for youth, along with long-lasting trajectories of drug use that might have negative health and other consequences.”.
Likewise worrying is that high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can be delivered through vaping devices, which might result in harmful effects for youth users with lower tolerance.
” In addition, of note, is the evidence that the increases we are seeing in vaping as compared with cigarette smoking are concentrated among non-Hispanic white and greater socioeconomic status teenagers, the latter perhaps showing the greater cost point for vaping gadgets compared to other administration methods, “kept in mind Keyes.
” As marijuana legalization continues throughout U.S. states, and as items, delivery systems, effectiveness and marketing proliferate within a for-profit industry, increased attention to youth trends, including financial investment in evidence-based and continual prevention and intervention, is progressively urgent.”.
Recommendation: “Frequency of teen cannabis cigarette smoking and vaping in the United States: Trends, variations and concurrent compound use, 2017– 19” by Katherine M. Keyes, Noah T. Kreski, Hadley Ankrum, Magdalena Cerdá, Qixuan Chen, Deborah S. Hasin, Silvia S. Martins, Mark Olfson and Richard Miech, 19 May 2022, Addiction.DOI: 10.1111/ include.15912.
Co-authors are Noah Kreski, Hadley Ankrum, Deborah Hasin, Silvia Martins, Mark Olfson, and Qixuan Chen, Columbia Mailman School; Magdalena Cerdá, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; and Richard Miech, University of Michigan.
The research study was supported by National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, grant R49-CE003094; National Institute on Drug Abuse, grants R01DA001411, R01DA016575, R01DA037866, R01DA048853, R01DA048860.