Casual attitude to e-cigarettes and marijuana raises health concerns among teens

Winslow’s 22-year-old Alex Swiercz said he started smoking e-cigarettes when he was a sophomore at age 16, attracted by flavors like blue raspberry, mint and mango. Within about a year, he became a full-blown addict, smoking the equivalent of a pack of e-cigarettes a day.

“It starts with nicotine,” said Swiercz, now a Winslow auto salesperson who supports a proposal to ban e-cigarette product flavors statewide. The more I use it, the more the effect turns into a feeling of unease between rips.I was a full-time, daily user.”

Smoking e-cigarettes reduced lung capacity. He estimates that only about 75% of normal lung function is working. He began coughing frequently and was prone to lung infections. E-cigarettes also affected his performance as a member of Winslow High School’s football team and his lacrosse team, he said.

He quit e-cigarettes in 2020, two years after graduating from high school, after he started vomiting blood. Swiercz said he bought the “stop vaping” app to keep him motivated and prevent a relapse. This app tracks the health and financial benefits of quitting smoking. He hasn’t smoked e-cigarettes since, and he says he still looks at the app to see how much money he’s saved. So far, about $2,100.

VAPING erodes progress

Swiercz is one of thousands of teens who go crazy and have addictions that can last a lifetime.

The e-cigarette industry is a $25 billion industry. The company’s products can’t be legally sold to anyone under the age of 21 in Maine, but public health advocates say flavored products lure young people into trying e-cigarettes. claims to be Usage can be hidden relatively easily by teenagers. The vapor doesn’t smell like tobacco or cigars and the vaping pen fits easily in your backpack or pocket.

According to the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey and The Youth, the percentage of students who said they had smoked an e-cigarette in the last 30 days increased from 16.8% of high school students in 2015 (first graders were asked) to 30.2% in 2019. increased to Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. The dramatic rise in e-cigarettes is eroding long-term progress to reduce teenage smoking.

Tobacco use has been steadily declining for more than a decade, from about 16% in 2005 to 7% in 2019, the study said. Alcohol use has steadily declined from his 43% in 2005 to his 28% in 2019.

“Students have a strong belief that smoking e-cigarettes is much healthier than smoking, which is disgusting and disgusting,” says Whitney Pearce, a youth substance use and mental health counselor in Bideford. said Mr. “There is this constant misinformation that you have to deal with.”

Mary Record, a health teacher at Scarborough High School, feels that all the gains public health has made in reducing tobacco use are rapidly disappearing.

“Our public health message is being obscured by all the e-cigarette and marijuana industry advertising,” the record said.

State studies show that e-cigarette use will drop to 17.4% in 2021, but public health experts warn against reading too much into trends at the peak of the pandemic.

For the first six months of 2021 (when students were being surveyed), most districts in Maine will see schools face-to-face only two days a week, reducing opportunities for students to meet and socialize. , temporary access and use is declining, said Rita Furlow of the Maine Children’s Alliance. The survey is conducted biennially, and students are expected to retake the exam this spring.

There is no doubt that teenage vaping is still common and a significant problem, whether the numbers are growing or declining. And efforts are increasing to stem the tide.

The Flavors Hook Kids Maine grassroots campaign successfully lobbied for a ban on flavored tobacco products in four Maine cities (Portland, South Portland, Brunswick and Bangor) and is now statewide. advocating a ban on Rep. Jill Duson (D-Portland) supports a bill to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products statewide.

Joanne Grant, director of substance use treatment program operations at Maine Behavioral Healthcare, said public health messages about the dangers of tobacco and alcohol are consistent and well-funded, while anti-e-cigarettes and Other public health campaigns have fallen far behind, he said.

“For years, we’ve been telling the message loud and clear that smoking is bad for you,” said Grant. “We’ve done well with it, and there’s no one who doesn’t understand that smoking is bad for you.”

The anti-smoking campaign was bolstered in 1998 by a huge settlement with tobacco companies, which put more than $200 billion into public health campaigns against smoking.

Public health advocates are looking to this year’s survey to get a better picture of current trends. Similar to the decline in e-cigarettes reported in the 2021 study, experts believe the pandemic may have also caused a temporary decline in the use of other substances that year.According to the 2021 study , marijuana use decreased to 17.9% of students, alcohol use to 19%, and smoking to 5.5%.

Studies show that opioid use is at crisis levels among adults, causing hundreds of fatal overdoses each year, but a small percentage of teenage drug use and 4.1% of high school students. had used opioids in the last 30 days.

Changing attitudes towards marijuana

Maine is one of 21 states to legalize marijuana for adults. And public health advocates are concerned that messages from the marijuana industry that downplay the harm and make cannabis seem beneficial outweigh warnings about the risks.

Adults are legal, but marijuana under the age of 21 is illegal. Teenager use has remained relatively stable since 2005, with about 22% of Maine high school students reporting use in the last 30 days in both her 2005 and her 2019 years. Years in between, according to research.

However, according to the National Institutes of Health, it is scientifically clear that marijuana use is harmful to the developing brain.

According to the NIH, “drugs can impair thinking, memory, and learning functions and affect how the brain builds connections between areas necessary for these functions.” It has been shown that people who started using cannabis habitually from 12 years old may have lower IQs, but more research is needed.

Dr. Noah Nesin, Innovation Advisor for Penobscot Community Health Care, says there are risks associated with substance use while the brain is developing.

“The human brain grows and develops until about age 26, which makes youths and young adults vulnerable to addiction,” says Nesin. “Cannabis addiction rates in this age group are almost double that of adults. Addiction often begins with early use of tobacco, marijuana, or alcohol, as they are all legal for adults. , more familiar to children: This early use can cause permanent changes in the developing brain and increase the risk of addiction to other substances years or even decades later. Once these circuits are made in the developing brain, they will be more easily triggered by the use of other substances in the future.”

Stronger marijuana can also cause psychotic episodes in some users. According to the University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project, which works for the federal government, the average potency of cannabis products is 4% THC in 1995. from 16% in 2018.

However, with the legalization and changing attitudes of all age groups regarding marijuana use, more and more teens are now believing that marijuana does no harm to them.

According to the National Drug Use and Health Survey, the percentage of young people ages 12 to 17 who say using marijuana once or twice a week is unsafe will increase from 55% in 2005 to 37.4% in 2020. Decreased.

Maezy Gleason, a 16-year-old junior at Scarborough High School, says she is drug-free and wants her classmates to understand the risks. Gleeson says she has participated in public health campaigns to discourage drug use among teens, but she feels that a minority of young people are aware that marijuana is harmful. .

“Somehow this message about danger is getting lost,” Gleason said.

Another reason to be concerned about young people becoming attracted to marijuana is the explosion in food availability.

“The grocery is huge right now,” said Grant of Maine Behavioral Health. .”

Grant said cannabis use, especially with people who use stronger doses, can increase the likelihood of psychotic episodes or induce psychosis-prone people. Contrary to popular messages that marijuana can be relaxing, she said cannabis can cause anxiety.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana is used to treat certain medical conditions, including treating patients undergoing chemotherapy, increasing appetite in AIDS patients, neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, and some forms of childhood epilepsy. may be available. , among others. Medications are prescribed and administered in reliable doses, often in tablet form.

Records, a health teacher in Scarborough, said that using marijuana as a drug does not mean that it is a magical panacea or harmless. I blame the industry for spreading it.

“Big Marijuana follows similar tactics that Big Tobacco and Alcohol companies did. It’s disturbing and terrible for us, especially for our youth,” Record said.

A graduate of Gorham High School and currently a student at Southern Maine Community College, 19-year-old Kathryn Morin is backing the Voices of Hope documentary project, a 10-part series on Maine Public Television. Our next episode, airing in February, will focus on the risks of marijuana use.

Morin said he never used drugs, but he has learned to be less critical of his peers who use drugs.

“I had the confidence to set boundaries and resist peer pressure,” says Morin. “But the people who use it need help and compassion.”

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