Study finds that adolescents that vape are significant more likely to turn to smoking cigarettes and using other drugs.
Teen vaping has become a significant public health concern. Companies have been accused of drawing teens in by offering enticing flavors such as fruit punch, mango, cotton candy, watermelon, and bubblegum. They’ve also made their devices quite appealing, with customizable skins and colorful LED lights. Some are even easy to hide from the prying eyes of parents, with pens shaped like flash drives, lipsticks, pens, and more. These may be creative, but they’ve also contributed to teen use, as has the widespread misconception that vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes.
A recent study by the University of Michigan (UM) has shed additional light on the concerning relationship between vaping and the increased risk of cigarette smoking and drug use among U.S. teens and young adults. Researchers focused on individuals aged 12 to 25 over an eight-year period and found that vaping consistently increased the likelihood of initiating cigarette smoking, marijuana use, or even trying other drugs. This risk was found to be significant in both adolescents (ages 12-17) and young adults (ages 18-25).
Among 12-to-17-year-olds, those who vaped and also used other tobacco products were found to be 54 times more likely to start smoking cigarettes. Similarly, they were eight times more likely to begin using marijuana and three times more likely to use other drugs. The U-M team also found that among adolescents who vaped but didn’t use other tobacco products were still 22 times more likely to begin smoking cigarettes, seven times more likely to start using marijuana, and three times more likely to try other drugs.
Rebecca Evans-Polce, one of the study’s authors and a research assistant professor at the U-M School of Nursing, said, “The really high odds of cigarette initiation regardless of what type of nicotine or tobacco products you’re using is important. I think it really highlights that to the extent that you can prevent initiation of vaping and other tobacco products, too, you’ll also go really far in preventing cigarette initiation over the long term.”
Given that 39% of teens reported vaping by the 12th grade and 14% of young adults have vaped within the past month, the study’s findings are critical for understanding the long-term public health implications of vaping. As the data shows, the persistent risk of transitioning from vaping to cigarette smoking and drug use cannot be ignored.
Back in 2020, during a time in which the phenomenon was first becoming public knowledge, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar stated, “The United States has never seen an epidemic of substance use arise as quickly as our current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes. HHS is taking a comprehensive, aggressive approach to enforcing the law passed by Congress, under which no e-cigarettes are currently on the market legally. By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action today seeks to strike the right public health balance by maintaining e-cigarettes as a potential off-ramp for adults using combustible tobacco while ensuring these products don’t provide an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for our youth. We will not stand idly by as this crisis among America’s youth grows and evolves, and we will continue monitoring the situation and take further actions as necessary.”
Given the university’s most recent results, it seems there’s still much to be done when it comes to enforcing effective measures to curtail teen vaping and the risk of subsequent cigarette smoking.
Sources:
Vaping growing in popularity with teens – with many of the same risks as smoking
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