As electronic cigarette usage increases rapidly among high school students, more young people are finding substances other than nicotine to vape, including marijuana, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.
In the spring of 2014, researchers conducted an anonymous survey of more than 3,800 high school students in Connecticut, assessing their e-cigarette and cannabis use. The survey revealed students use e-cigarettes to vape:
Cannabis (in some form)
- Lifetime e-cigarette users who vape cannabis— 18 percent
- Lifetime cannabis users — 18.4 percent
- Lifetime dual users — 26.5 percent
Hash oil
- Lifetime e-cigarette users who vape hash oil — 15.4 percent
- Lifetime cannabis users — 15.5 percent
- Lifetime dual users — 22.9 percent
Wax infused with THC, the active ingredient of cannabis
- Lifetime e-cigarette users who vape THC — 10 percent
- Lifetime cannabis users — 10.2 percent
- Lifetime dual users — 14.8 percent
Dried cannabis leaves
- Lifetime e-cigarette users who vape dried cannabis leaves — 19.6 percent
- Lifetime cannabis users — 23.1 percent
- Lifetime dual users — 29.1 percent
The survey also revealed that male students, younger students, lifetime e-cigarette users and lifetime cannabis users were most likely to vape cannabis using e-cigarettes.
Meghan Morean, PhD, author of the study, emailed Reuters Health saying, "Forms of cannabis that can be vaporized, like hash oil, can be many times stronger than marijuana that is smoked."
Dustin Lee, PhD, a fellow at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine in Hanover, N.H., told Reuters Health via email that very little is known about the acute and long-term effects of high-potency THC on neurobiology and behavior.
"This is especially concerning for teens, who are in a critical time for development of brain structures that are integral in executive functioning," wrote Dr. Lee, who was not involved in the Pediatrics study.
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