Study: Oregon youth vaping of cannabis increased 295% between 2017 and 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. — Youth vaping of cannabis increased 295 percent between 2017 and 2019, according to the new Oregon Healthy Teens survey conducted every other year by the Oregon Health Authority.

"This is alarming," said Dean Sidelinger, MD, MSEd, health officer and state epidemiologist, OHA Public Health Division. "It confirms what we’ve long known: Vaping is putting a new generation at risk for addiction. These products can get young people started on using nicotine and marijuana, and it is easy to get hooked."

The study found overall use of marijuana by youth in Oregon has remained flat.

What has changed is the way kids ingest the drug.

According to the Oregon Health Authority:

This finding adds to evidence that vaping is subjecting many more youth to addiction. New data show one in four Oregon 11th-graders reporting vaping a nicotine product, with youth use of e-cigarettes like Juul increasing nearly 80 percent between 2017 and 2019. Marijuana use changed dramatically as well, according to the data, with youth shifting from smoking marijuana to vaping.

Youth vaping of marijuana increased 295 percent — from 11 percent to 44 percent among 11th-graders using marijuana — between 2017 and 2019, even as 11th-grade overall marijuana use stayed constant at 20 percent.

The studies also shed light on who is using e-cigarettes to consume nicotine.

The Oregon Healthy Teens survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey conducted annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "both found that nicotine vaping products are most popular among children and young adults: 23 percent of 11th-grade students and 13 percent of young adults, ages 18 to 24, use nicotine e-cigarettes versus just 3 percent of adults age 25 and older," the Oregon Health Authority said. "About half of Oregon high school students who currently use e-cigarettes report they never smoked conventional cigarettes — not even one time."

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The Oregon Health Authority urges the public not to use e-cigarettes and vape products.

People who want to quit can take advantage of free cessation resources, including:

• 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669), http://www.quitnow.net/Oregon
• Español: 855-DÉJELO-YA (855-335-35692), www.quitnow.net/oregonsp
• http://www.thisisquitting.com/ (youth quit resource for vaping).
• Truth Initiative: Text DITCHJUUL to 88709 or visit https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/quitting-smoking-vaping/quitting-e-cigarettes
• For help quitting marijuana or other substance use: 800-662-HELP.
• Oregon’s Alcohol and Drug Helpline: 800-923-4357 or text RecoveryNow to 839863.