Popularity among youth for e-cigarette use has another dimension. Will marijuana use with e-cigarettes increase proportionally? Susceptible children and adolescents, including those with asthma are likely the highest risk. Dr. Susarla
Among American students in grades 6 to 12, trying marijuana in e-cigarettes is common.1
According to new findings published in JAMA Pediatrics, the number of students who had used cannabis in e-cigarettes had reached an alarming 1 in 11 in 2016, including one-third of students who had ever tried e-cigarettes.
Moreover, approximately 1 in 3 middle-school students and about 1 in 4 high-school students identifying as e-cigarette users had experimented with cannabis in e-cigarettes at some point in their lives.
These statistics are a cause for concern, as neither cannabis nor e-cigarettes come without health hazards, said lead author Katrina Trivers, PhD, MSPH, from the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr Trivers recently shared her insights with Consultant360, explaining the effects of these substances on the young brain, factors that may perpetuate the cannabis/e-cigarette trend, and ways for physicians, parents, and policymakers to help address this issue.
Consultant360: Your study found that cannabis use in e-cigarettes is prevalent among middle and high school students. What factors do you think contributed to this finding?
Katrina Trivers: There are likely multiple factors that may be influencing the use of cannabis in e-cigarettes among our nation’s youth. The tobacco product landscape has changed in recent years, and e-cigarettes have become increasingly popular to the point where they have been the most commonly used tobacco product among youth since 2014. In recent years, many youths have also been using other psychoactive substances in e-cigarettes, including cannabinoids and other illicit drugs.
Young people may use cannabis for a variety of reasons, including curiosity, peer pressure, misperceptions that cannabis is harmless, as well as shifts in availability and opportunity as social norms and public policies related to cannabis have changed in recent years. Exposure to marijuana or other substance use through friends or family members may also cause the use of these products to be seen as more normative behavior. For example, our study found that youth who lived with a tobacco user were significantly more likely to use an e-cigarette with cannabis than those who did not live with a tobacco user.
C360: In your experience, what are some of the biggest misconceptions about the health-related effects of cannabis use, especially among youth?
KT: One of the biggest misconceptions is that cannabis use is harmless.
This is a public health concern because the use of any form of tobacco product is unsafe among youth, irrespective of whether it is smoked, smokeless, or electronic. The US Surgeon General has concluded that the aerosol emitted from e-cigarettes is not harmless. It can contain harmful ingredients, including nicotine, carbonyl compounds, and volatile organic compounds known to have adverse health effects.
The use of marijuana in these products is of particular concern because cannabis use among youth can adversely affect learning and memory and may impair later academic achievement and education.
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