Teens who vape or use hookah are more likely to use marijuana later, study finds
CNN News 6 August 2018
Teens who used e-cigarettes and hookah were up to four times more likely to use marijuana later, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The students answered a paper-and-pencil, phone or internet survey that asked whether they had ever used (or had used in the past 30 days) e-cigarettes, combustible cigarettes or a hookah water pipe. They were also asked whether they had used any type of marijuana product. The use of less popular tobacco products such as smokeless tobacco and cigars was not studied.
In a followup survey in fall 2015, when the students were 16 years old and in 11th grade, the survey asked whether they had used three types of marijuana products: combustible, vaped or edible.
The researchers found that the students who had tried e-cigarettes when they were freshmen had a more than three-fold greater likelihood of ever using marijuana and using marijuana in the past 30 days than students who hadn’t tried e-cigs.
“When we were thinking about this topic, we were kind of just reflecting on the fact that we have more tobacco products on the market now than ever,” said Janet Audrain-McGovern, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “And we’ve seen cigarette smoking decline among young people, but we’ve seen increase in use of these other tobacco products. At the same time, we’ve also seen in many areas of the country a lessening of the restrictions surrounding marijuana use.”
READ MORE: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/06/health/vape-hookah-marijuana-teens-study/index.html
