A rapid increase in vaping among adolescents is starting to create a public health concern, according to a report released Monday, prompting a Santa Clarita addiction expert to weigh in.  

This year, vaping was the most common use of any tobacco-like product among adolescents, which has almost doubled from 2017, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The youngest that we have seen is 15, but there are some that are much younger than that,” said Bob Sharits, program director for The Way Out Recovery SCV. “There is a lot of peer pressure for kids to vape; (they) think it makes them cool. They want to belong.”

This is a rapid rise from a near-zero prevalence of vaping in 2011, according to the study.

Adolescents use an electric cigarette device to “vape,” where they inhale a heated aerosol that typically contains nicotine.  

Data from a study done by Monitoring the Future, which annually surveys national samples of students in the 12th, 10th and 8th grades, found that approximately 1.3 million additional adolescents vaped in 2018 compared to 2017.

The increases in the prevalence of nicotine vaping among 12th graders and 10th graders are the largest ever recorded by Monitoring the Future in the 44 years that it has continuously tracked dozens of substances.

Adolescent vape use across the nation compared from 2017 to 2018 / KHTS News

“These figures are particularly concerning because youth exposure to nicotine — whether it comes from a cigarette or an e-cigarette — affects the developing brain and may rewire it to be more susceptible to nicotine addiction in the future,” says Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the FDA.

The report, based on a total of 13,850 respondents, discovered a sharp increase in the prevalence of nicotine vaping, with 10 percent among 12th graders, 7.9 percent among 10th graders and 2.6 percent among 8th graders.

The results were similar in the combined measure of adolescents who reported vaping nicotine or “just flavoring,” a measure that captured data regarding youth who may unknowingly vape nicotine, according to Monitoring the Future.

The overall use of nicotine with any product increased by 5.2 percent, rising from 23.7 percent to 28.9 percent.

In the sample of 12th graders who answered questions on both vaping and tobacco use, the increase was driven solely by nicotine vaping, given that the use of each of the other six nicotine products declined, according to the study.

“Tobacco or vaping products are not allowed on our campuses,” said Dave Caldwell, spokesperson for the William S. Hart Union High School District.

These results indicate that the policies in place as of the 2017–2018 school year were not sufficient to stop the spread of nicotine vaping among adolescents, according to Monitoring the Future.

The Juul, a device resembling a USB flash drive that heats up nicotine cartridges to create a vapor, is the latest example of the rapid entry of new vaping devices on the market.

These new products will require continual updates and modification of strategies to keep adolescents from vaping, according to Monitoring the Future.

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