America is a land of paradoxes, especially when it comes to relationships between adults and teenagers. We adults tell our kids they shouldn’t be out drinking. Meanwhile, we find it impossible to go a single day without a beer or glass of wine. We face the same sort of paradox when it comes to marijuana. And now it is time to admit that we have a teen weed a problem in this country.
Teenagers have been using marijuana for generations. It is no different than alcohol. But now that eleven states have given the green light to recreational-use marijuana, it is easier than ever for teens to get their hands on it. And that is exactly what they are doing. According to a study recently published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, the number of teenagers vaping THC has increased 700% between 2013 and 2020.
1. Smoke It or Vape It
Smoking is a preferred method of THC delivery because its effects are almost immediate. It turns out that vaping is just as fast. But there is an added bonus: cannabis vapes can easily contain more THC by volume than straight marijuana plant material. Teenagers who decide they don’t want to smoke do not have to. They can vape – and get a better high doing so.
Getting back to the study for one minute, it was actually a meta-analysis of seventeen previous studies involving nearly 200,000 teenagers in the U.S. and Canada. One of the analyzed studies revealed that teenagers prefer vaping over smoking. Another showed that some 30% of all high school seniors admitted vaping THC.
Vaping offers a number of benefits that teens find attractive. Among them is the ability to stealth vape. In other words, it is very difficult to light up a joint in school and get away with it. Smoke is easy to see and smell. And once you light a joint, it takes several minutes to smoke it. Vaping is a lot easier to hide. Just pull out your vape pen and inhale. Then hold it for 10 to 15 seconds and exhale. What is left of the vapor will typically dissipate before anyone knows where it came from.
2. Recreational vs. Medical Use
Though teenagers have always found ways to use drugs and alcohol despite warnings against doing so, the current teen weed problem is partly the result of proliferation. The more readily available cannabis products are, the easier it is for teens to get their hands on them.
It is ironic that Washington and the states have bent over backwards during the last ten years to strictly regulate nicotine vaping in order to keep teens away from it. Yet the same attention is not being given to teen cannabis use.
3. Let us Compare States
It would be interesting to see data comparing teen cannabis use in the eleven recreational states with that in the twenty-six states with medical-only cannabis programs. Comparing California against Utah might reveal some interesting data that could help us develop ways to curb teen cannabis consumption.
Deseret Wellness, a Utah medical cannabis pharmacy located in Park City, says that smoking cannabis in Utah is illegal. People can vape THC, but they must have a valid medical cannabis card to obtain the vape cartridges. Moreover, those cartridges can only come from licensed cannabis pharmacies.
At any rate, it’s time to admit that we have a teen weed a problem in the U.S. It is also time to admit that, until we back off and stop promoting cannabis as the greatest thing since sliced bread, teens will continue to seek it out and use it. Is that what we really want?
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