According to a nationwide U.S. poll, vaping CBD (cannabidiol) is becoming more popular among middle and high school students, but health experts warn there may be major risks associated.
The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that more than 1 in 5 adolescents who use e-cigarettes admitted to vaping CBD, a part of marijuana that does not cause intoxication like THC. Additionally, more than 6% were unsure of whether they had vaped CBD.
The report found that children of Hispanic descent and LGBTQ+ youth vape CBD most frequently.
Despite the fact that CBD is the most well-known non-psychoactive component of cannabis, according to the study’s authors, using it raises various safety issues, including the possibility of liver and pulmonary damage as well as damage to the male reproductive system.
The authors, led by researcher Hongying Daisy Dai from the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre, concluded that to reduce the negative health outcomes associated with CBD vaping among developing youths, evidence-based educational campaigns, interventions, and changes in public policy were required.
One expert disputes the claim that CBD is not psychotropic, and other experts are equally concerned.
CBD continues to have psychoactive qualities. A child-adolescent psychiatrist in New York who was not involved in the study, said that it might have significant cardiac, pulmonary, and cognitive impacts.
Furthermore, he continued, not all of the chemicals in a vape are always obvious, especially given that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hardly ever regulates the goods.
I’ve encountered situations where a vape pen was thought to be contaminated with other drugs. Children believed they were consuming one substance, but it was not known if it had been contaminated with another substance, such as cocaine. The only thing the child remembers is smoking the vape pen, which makes it extremely difficult to purchase vapes from a dealer rather than a retailer.
From the Youth Tobacco Survey, which was conducted from January to May of 2022, researchers selected a nationally representative sample of about 28,000 American adolescents for the study. Of the 2,448 reported active e-cigarette users, 21.3% admitted to vaping CBD, whereas 6.3% were unsure if they had.
Dr. Diane Tanaka, medical director of the Teenage and Young Adult Health Centre at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said: “What we’re learning about vaping CBD or cannabis, whether that’s distillate like wax or it’s the active cannabis — the THC-containing or more the cannabidiol-like CBD — is that, one, young people under-recognize the risks.
Two, they might not even be aware that they are vaping CBD, as the study found. They believe it to be merely flavouring, and when used, it produces a chilly vapour.
Therefore, she continued, I think this strongly affirms that, yes, more education has to take place, more sharing with young people, about the possible health dangers of vaping in general, and then particularly surrounding vaping cannabis or derivatives thereof like CBD.
Kids who vape CBD run the risk of developing both the habit of vaping and the actual marijuana.
The younger a person starts using cannabis or marijuana, the larger the influence we can see on their brain development and mood, according to mounting research.
Therefore, she said, it’s riskier for a 12-year-old using cannabis than it is for a 25-year-old who has just started using cannabis.
According to some preliminary research, it can also impair memory, which would influence how effectively children recall information, such as academics and schoolwork, Tanaka added. And there are worries that it might alter how some neurotransmitters behave when they are still developing in the brain, as opposed to when they are completely developed at age 25.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2.5 million middle and high school kids using e-cigarettes in 2022.
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