Vaping remains a nationwide epidemic among young people, with 1 in 9 high school students saying that had vaped in the past year, according to the CDC. And increasingly, those kids are also vaping cannabis cartridges in their e-cigarettes. A new study confirms this “gateway” theory, finding that adolescents who use e-cigarettes are over three times more likely to use cannabis than those who don’t—and also that more than 1 in 10 youths who say they have never used cannabis go on to do so within a year. The research, published in JAMA Open Network, and focusing on the years 2017 to 2019, revealed that those who said they had used e-cigarettes were far more likely to move on to cannabis. Looking at sociological factors, youths who vape could be more likely to be friends with those who engage in risky behaviors, and as vaping devices can be sued for both tobacco and marijuana could account for the association. As more and more states legalize cannabis, and the FDA has been slow to regulate vaping products, we need to be more aware of the dangers posed by these products and educate young people accordingly.
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Rosenthal Center for AddictIon Studies