January 1, Marijuana vaping among teens has doubled since 2013

A new study found that marijuana vaping among teenagers doubled between 2013 and 2020 — and that adolescents who vaped cannabis within the last 30 days increased seven-fold.

The report from JAMA Pediatrics analyzed 17 studies involving roughly 200,000 teenagers in the US and Canada. The researchers say the data indicates a shift in preference from dried herb to cannabis oils, which is how marijuana is consumed via vaping.

Researchers say this may be due to cannabis oils containing higher levels of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and the misconception that vaping is safer than smoking. However, the researchers warned that vaping marijuana poses some serious health risks for teens.

“Regular use of high THC products could increase the risk of dependence, other substance use and many other health, social and behavioral problems later in life,” said study author Carmen Lim, a doctoral candidate in health and behavioral sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia.

“In contrast to smoking cannabis, vaping marijuana with an electronic nicotine device increased the likelihood that adolescents would have worrisome pulmonary symptoms, including things like wheezing or whistling in their chest,” said Carol Boyd, co-director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at the University of Michigan.

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Marijuana vaping among teens has more than doubled since 2013