U of M study shows youth vaping nearly doubled in 2018

[mcduffy]

Heard a brief mention of this on the radio this morning.

Marijuana use for college students at 35-year high, University of Michigan study shows
By Martin Slagter | mslagter@mlive.com

ANN ARBOR, MI - Marijuana use among college students reached a 35-year high in 2018, according to the University of Michigan’s annual Monitoring the Future national survey.
...
The study also indicated a significant increase in vaping marijuana between 2017 - increasing from 10.7% in 2017 to 20.2% in 2018. The 9.4% increase was among the greatest one-year increases for any substance since the Monitoring the Future Panel began more than 40 years ago.

There also was a significant increase in the 30-day prevalence of vaping marijuana among college students, which increased from 5.2% to 10.9% from 2017 to 2018, representing one of the largest one-year proportional increases for any substance over the past four decades.

vaping nicotine also increased significantly across all ages groups, as well, from 2017 to 2018. The 30-day prevalence of vaping was up among eighth graders (3.5% to 6.1%); 10th graders (8.2% to 16.1%); 11% to 20.9% for 12th graders; 6.1% to 15.5% for college students and 6.5% to 10.6% for all young adults.

The increase among college students was among the greatest one-year increases the survey has seen in the past 40 years.

The full report is available here.
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-vol2_2018.pdf

 

[Mazinny]

Heard a brief mention of this on the radio this morning.

Marijuana use for college students at 35-year high, University of Michigan study shows
By Martin Slagter | mslagter@mlive.com

ANN ARBOR, MI - Marijuana use among college students reached a 35-year high in 2018, according to the University of Michigan’s annual Monitoring the Future national survey.
...
The study also indicated a significant increase in vaping marijuana between 2017 - increasing from 10.7% in 2017 to 20.2% in 2018. The 9.4% increase was among the greatest one-year increases for any substance since the Monitoring the Future Panel began more than 40 years ago.

There also was a significant increase in the 30-day prevalence of vaping marijuana among college students, which increased from 5.2% to 10.9% from 2017 to 2018, representing one of the largest one-year proportional increases for any substance over the past four decades.

Vaping nicotine also increased significantly across all ages groups, as well, from 2017 to 2018. The 30-day prevalence of vaping was up among eighth graders (3.5% to 6.1%); 10th graders (8.2% to 16.1%); 11% to 20.9% for 12th graders; 6.1% to 15.5% for college students and 6.5% to 10.6% for all young adults.

The increase among college students was among the greatest one-year increases the survey has seen in the past 40 years.

The full report is available here.
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-vol2_2018.pdf

Don't have time now, but I'd be interested to see if the prevalence in smoking marijuana decreased, as vaping increased. I'm willing to bet that a lot of it is young adults who already smoked marijuana, are now experimenting with vaping it.

The increase in nicotine vaping is all Juul.

 

[Eskie]

How many were dual users of vaping both nicotine and Marijuana in those time frames? Perhaps higher rates of vaping Marijuana are increasing the reported rates of nicotine vaping in those groups. Maybe it isn't underage use of nic as the primary issue, but increased Marijuana vaping driving reported higher levels of nicotine vaping in underage groups

Great thing about statistics, play with them all day if you want until they look just right.

 

[Exchaner]

Problems with vaping are not limited to Mariuana and/or other additives. According to CDC, even those who only vape nicotine have had problems with pneumonia ....

 

[ScottP]

According to CDC, even those who only vape nicotine have had problems with pneumonia ....

That is based solely on what the people that got sick told them they had used. However, the people that denied the vape product was THC based also happen to live in states where THC is illegal. So you have to question the accuracy of those claims. How many people do you think might lie about breaking the law? Especially if they are under age, still living with parents that are against THC use and don't know their child is using? What about adults that fear losing their job if it gets out they used an illegal substance? Considering 80% (last I saw a count) of the people that got sick admitted to it being THC based, what are the odds that the other 20% were as well but the people were just afraid to admit it?

 

[sonicbomb]

68.4% of stats are made up on the spot

 

[ScottP]

68.4% of stats are made up on the spot

Mine aren't.

 

[Eskie]

Problems with vaping are not limited to Mariuana and/or other additives. According to CDC, even those who only vape nicotine have had problems with pneumonia ....

In NY State, which is where the dept of health identified the presence of vitamin E acetate in THC cartridges it was able to retrieve, 73 of 74 cases were folks who had used THC cartridges. The 74th is, to my knowledge, unknown.

Ten years of nic vaping and there were no reported episodes of respiratory failure or lipoid pneumonia. Vitamin E acetate is launched as a "thickener" for use in THC cartridges last spring so dealers could show a more viscous solution which buyers associate with high THC quality. A few months after entering the market, clusters of respiratory illness occur, many of the documented cases used THC cartridge vapes.

Really, this isn't tough epidemiology stuff. It's about as bread and butter as a neighborhood develops cholera. A single well provides the water to a neighborhood. . All the cases occurred are among those who got water from that well, but not all who drank from that well got ill (nothing is 100% transmissible). However, everyone who got water from other wells showed no signs of illness. What's your best guess on the source of the cholera outbreak? This appears to be a good case study of what we're seeing. Kinda textbook epidemiology 101.

Edit: If anyone found that little case interesting, here's a link to its history. It occurred in 1854 in London and the physician who figured it out is regarded as the founder of epidemiology, so it's a pretty well read case.
https://www.pastmedicalhistory.co.uk/john-snow-and-the-1854-cholera-outbreak/

 

[Mazinny]

How many were dual users of vaping both nicotine and Marijuana in those time frames? Perhaps higher rates of vaping Marijuana are increasing the reported rates of nicotine vaping in those groups. Maybe it isn't underage use of nic as the primary issue, but increased Marijuana vaping driving reported higher levels of nicotine vaping in underage groups

Great thing about statistics, play with them all day if you want until they look just right.

I'm visiting my cousin in NJ currently, and had a discussion with her son who vapes a Juul. He is 20 years old and started when he was seventeen. Has tried to stop on more than one occasion, with no luck. Never smoked, by the way. Obviously anecdotal, but he tells me that when he was a freshman in high school, there were very few students in his school who vaped, but by the time he was in his senior year, probably half the kids Juuled, and almost none of them smoked. He also claims that of the few smokers he knew in high school, none converted to vaping. Somewhat surprising to me.

 

[Toronnah]

In Canada we've had an uptick in youth smoking thanks to the availability of low cost native cigarettes.

However there isn't a lot of appetite by government to mess with it because it has brought a new industry and prosperity to some native reserves.

 

[Eskie]

I'm visiting my cousin in NJ currently, and had a discussion with her son who vapes a Juul. He is 20 years old and started when he was seventeen. Has tried to stop on more than one occasion, with no luck. Never smoked, by the way. Obviously anecdotal, but he tells me that when he was a freshman in high school, there were very few students in his school who vaped, but by the time he was in his senior year, probably half the kids Juuled, and almost none of them smoked. He also claims that of the few smokers he knew in high school, none converted to vaping. Somewhat surprising to me.

When I posted that, I really did mean I was manipulating the statistics to look the way I liked, as can be done with just about anything, especially vape related these days. I do believe large numbers have experimented with it, but even the CDC figures show few progress to daily use, let alone outliers of actual addicted users. No substance is 100% addictive in all those ever exposed to it and I expect the large majority have used it intermittently if much at all after the initial item was obtained. Much as with cigarette experimentation, the majority do not advance to daily use.

I completely support ongoing monitoring of use patterns even if vaping remained intact with no further regulation (thought experiment) particularly looking for one, any long term illness in long term vapers, and rates and patterns of underage use that could require shifting of enforcement methods of laws against underage use and sales to underage buyers. I will not say there is no issue that needs to be addressed, but rather address it in a manner that's responsible and likely to be successful. From the perspective of decreasing underage use, these draconian steps won't solve the problem.

 

[Mazinny]

When I posted that, I really did mean I was manipulating the statistics to look the way I liked, as can be done with just about anything, especially vape related these days. I do believe large numbers have experimented with it, but even the CDC figures show few progress to daily use, let alone outliers of actual addicted users. No substance is 100% addictive in all those ever exposed to it and I expect the large majority have used it intermittently if much at all after the initial item was obtained. Much as with cigarette experimentation, the majority do not advance to daily use.

I completely support ongoing monitoring of use patterns even if vaping remained intact with no further regulation (thought experiment) particularly looking for one, any long term illness in long term vapers, and rates and patterns of underage use that could require shifting of enforcement methods of laws against underage use and sales to underage buyers. I will not say there is no issue that needs to be addressed, but rather address it in a manner that's responsible and likely to be successful. From the perspective of decreasing underage use, these draconian steps won't solve the problem.

I have a long posting history here, essentially saying the same. And I'm not backing away from that viewpoint either. I was just shocked from what I heard though, and I just have a feeling that this Juul thing is different from previous underage experimentation which plateaued in 2014 or so and started to reverse in 2015 and 2016. Something feels different about Juul to me. Maybe the 59mg/ml nic salts, I don't know.

 

[Eskie]

I have a long posting history here, essentially saying the same. And I'm not backing away from that viewpoint either. I was just shocked from what I heard though, and I just have a feeling that this Juul thing is different from previous underage experimentation which plateaued in 2014 or so and started to reverse in 2015 and 2016. Something feels different about Juul to me. Maybe the 59mg/ml nic salts, I don't know.

I'm still trying to figure how it is that here in NY, where both police public safety officers are as well as regular police at around 3 PM when public schools let out (cuts down on stabbings) kids will openly vape and smoke yet not one ever gets a summons for it. Same thing I've seen in suburban schools. How come no one starts there? It likely won't solve the issue, but at least it's a step towards letting kids know people are paying attention and there can be consequences (no not criminal, but administrative summonses like for jaywalking, which is almost never enforced either, which is a good thing, as I'd have a pile of tickets under my bed). .

 

[ScottP]

I have a long posting history here, essentially saying the same. And I'm not backing away from that viewpoint either. I was just shocked from what I heard though, and I just have a feeling that this Juul thing is different from previous underage experimentation which plateaued in 2014 or so and started to reverse in 2015 and 2016. Something feels different about Juul to me. Maybe the 59mg/ml nic salts, I don't know.

Juuling has become this "status symbol" in many schools where the cool kids do it, and if you don't you aren't in the click.

 

[United States]

Good thread.

Here's some more truth.
Illegal Cannabis Oil Linked To National Outbreak of Lung Damage | The Marijuana Times
Fungus among us.

 

[Exchaner]

Just wondering why we tend to dismiss reports that vaping might not be as safe as we once thought. Aren't we better off keeping an open mind instead of dismissing every negative piece of news? I am personally withholding judgement one way or another ...

 

[Haktuspit]

Just wondering why we tend to dismiss reports that vaping might not be as safe as we once thought. Aren't we better off keeping an open mind instead of dismissing every negative piece of news? I am personally withholding judgement one way or another ...

Last time I checked it was around 800 hospitalizations and 16? deaths. All of those people and they can't point to ONE SINGLE vape juice or device. And you know they would if they could. Meanwhile the MJ street vape dealers are going to jail and the people that created the Vitamin E acetate thickeners have been subpoenaed by the FDA.

In case you didn't read Eskie's post

In NY State, which is where the dept of health identified the presence of vitamin E acetate in THC cartridges it was able to retrieve, 73 of 74 cases were folks who had used THC cartridges. The 74th is, to my knowledge, unknown.

And now the CDC is coming around and telling the truth that these were MJ related vapes... I'm sure it's just a coincidence that they brought that to light after e-cig hysteria hit.

This isn't being caused by legal nicotine vapes. You don't always have to have all the info to paint the big picture.

 

[Exchaner]

This isn't being caused by legal nicotine vapes. You don't always have to have all the info to paint the big picture.

I was just responding to the person who implied "nicotine only" vapers might be hiding what they were really vaping .... That might be a possibility, but how do we know for sure ...... ?