A school based survey has revealed that a staggering 2.1 million middle and high school students have used e-cigarettes to get high.
The survey has showed that almost 1 in 11 students in the United States have used the drug marijuana in an electronic cigarette.
According to a report in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, almost 9% of students that were surveyed in 2016 had used an e-cigarette device with marijuana.
Lead researcher Katrina Trivers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the result is worrying “because cannabis use among youth can adversely affect learning and memory and may impair later academic achievement and education.”
“The health risks of vaping reside not only in the vaping devices, but in the social environment that comes with it,” said University of Michigan researcher Richard Miech.
According to Miech, kids who vape are more likely to become known as drug users and make friends with drug users.
It was earlier this month that the Food and Drug Administration cracked down on e-cig makers and required them to produce plans that would put a stop to underage usage of their products within sixty days.
“I use the word epidemic with great care,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. “E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous — and dangerous — trend among teens. The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end. It’s simply not tolerable.”
“We’re especially focused on the flavored e-cigarettes,” said Gottlieb. “And we’re seriously considering a policy change that would lead to the immediate removal of these flavored products from the market.”
He added, “The FDA won’t tolerate a whole generation of young people becoming addicted to nicotine as a tradeoff for enabling adults to have unfettered access to these same products.”
