Vaping for teens has clear growth, but cloudy impact

BY JANET ZIMMERMAN / STAFF WRITER

Teenagers’ use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco declined in 2014, a new study shows, but their preference for electronic cigarettes and vaping has health officials fuming.

More than 16 percent of 10th and 12th graders and nearly 9 percent of eighth graders had used the battery-powered smokes in the previous 30 days, according to the University of Michigan’s annual Monitoring the Future study.

Researcher Lloyd Johnston was surprised by the finding in the annual survey of more than 40,000 teens. This was the first time in the report’s 39-year history that questions about e-cigarette use were posed.

“One of the functions of the study is to identify new and emerging problems and this clearly is one,” he said.

Alcohol consumption decreased to 41 percent, the lowest level since 1975. That caps a long-term decline in use since the high of 61 percent in 1997.

The drop coincided with increased age limits for buying alcohol in many states and anti-drunk driving campaigns, Johnston said.

Teen use of other drugs, including synthetic marijuana – known as K-2 and Spice – bath salts, marijuana and Ecstasy, were also down. Levels of heroin, crack, methamphetamine and cocaine use were unchanged.

Traditional cigarette smoking also was at its lowest level, 8 percent, compared to a peak of 28 percent in 1997. The cause, Johnston said, is higher cigarette prices, fear of the health risks and public disfavor.

But in its place are e-cigarettes and vape pens, which work by heating liquid nicotine into an inhalable mist that looks like smoke but doesn’t contain the tar or odor of regular cigarettes.

E-cigarette refill fluids, known as juice, come in flavors such as bubble gum and milk chocolate cream, which make the products attractive to younger teens, the researchers said.

POPULAR WITH TEENS

Adrian Hernandez, 18, of Riverside, said he started vaping when he was 16 as a way to reduce the amount of marijuana he was using for personal issues.

“I needed something to take the edge off. It was a replacement. It helped,” said the high school senior who has since gotten a prescription for medical marijuana.

Hernandez isn’t concerned about possible health problems associated with vaping, and said just about everything in life carries some risk.

“We might as well look at alcohol abuse and cigarette abuse,” he said. “Granted (vaping) has a negative side, but what product do we consume that doesn’t?”

Hernandez has noticed that more of his fellow teens ask him where to buy vapes than about marijuana, he said.

INDUSTRY DEFENDS VAPING

Gregory Conley, president of the Medford, N.J.-based American Vaping Association, which represents businesses, took issue with the survey findings and accusations that e-cigarettes could lead young people to smoke regular cigarettes.

An analysis of the data shows that only a small percentage of the teens using e-cigarettes had never smoked before. The poll focused on use in the last 30 days, which does not indicate regular or habitual use, he said.

“They have no evidence that e-cigarette usage goes beyond experimentation and into addiction or dependence on nicotine,” he said.

Conley also noted that the sweet and fruity flavors of the e-liquid refills are aimed at adults. The flavors help many smokers, including Conley, quit tobacco, and once that craving is gone, the taste of a burning cigarette loses its appeal, he said.

Sean Cadieux, 35, of Riverside, smoked a pack a day of traditional cigarettes for 10 years. He said he started using e-cigarettes about a year ago in an attempt to quit, and was surprised to find it worked.

Now he spends about $1 a day on cartridges for his vape pen, compared to the $6 a day he spent on cigarettes.

“It’s a cool thing to do. I don’t smell like an ashtray anymore and I don’t taste like an ashtray,” Cadieux said.

HEALTH RISKS UNKNOWN

Most of the 12th graders surveyed for Monitoring the Future didn’t think regular e-cigarette use was harmful.

“Part of the reason e-cigarettes are so popular among youth is they have a very low perceived health risk,” said Richard Miech, a research professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and one of the study’s authors.

The health impacts are not fully known, however, because there are no long-term studies, said Prue Talbot, director of the Stem Cell Center at UC Riverside.

“Electronic cigarette aerosol has fewer chemicals than smoke from tobacco- burning cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean electronic cigarettes are not dangerous. It only takes one nasty chemical to cause problems,” she said. “We really don’t know what will happen to someone who smokes these for 20 years.”

In her research, Talbot found that some refill fluids for the e-cigarettes, including the cinnamon flavor, killed human and mouse cells.

“There are over 8,000 flavors of refill fluids on the market and we know very little about them,” she said.

Talbot’s research also revealed inaccurate labeling of the nicotine concentration on refills. The concentrations varied as much as 89 percent from the labeled amount, her study showed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that nicotine is highly addictive and there is evidence that its adverse effects on adolescent brain development could result in lasting deficits in cognitive function.

Christian Nazareno, 22, of Grand Terrace, is the manager of E-Cig City 4 in Riverside, where “tons of kids” try to buy vape pens and juice but are turned away. Many customers are college students who took up vaping to kick a tobacco habit; they can opt for zero-nicotine fluid that gives them a satisfying cloud of vapor that looks like smoke, he said.

Contact the writer: jzimmerman@pe.com or 951-368-9586

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