American teens are increasingly using e-cigarettes to smoke pot, vaporize marijuana: Study

Teenagers in the United States have found a new creative yet dangerous way to use e-cigarettes. According to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics, a number of teenagers are now using e-cigarettes to smoke marijuana.

E-cigarettes are marketed by its manufacturers as an effective and safer alternative to traditional smoking. However, the new trend of smoking pot through e-cigarettes is posing a remarkable danger and risk to the health of American teenagers.

The researchers at the Yale University conducted a survey among Connecticut high school students. The study team found that nearly one in every teenager is using an e-cigarette to vaporise cannabis, in addition to nicotine.

An e-cigarette is powered by a battery. The heating element in the device is turned on as a person inhales the vaporising liquid filled in the small tubes. The tubes on the device were initially designed to hold liquid nicotine; however, the latest study has revealed that teenagers are now using it to fill hash oil and wax infused with THC to smoke pot. THC is a psychoactive substance found in cannabis or marijuana.

According to researcher Meghan E. Morean, the teens prefer to use e-cigarette to smoke pot because of the two advantages that it offers them. First, the smell of pot isn't as powerful as what is experienced when it is smoked traditionally. Second, nobody gets to know what the teen is actually smoking in the e-cigarette.

"This is a relatively novel way of using marijuana, and kids are using it at a fairly high rate. These findings raise concern about the lack of e-cigarette regulations," the researchers concluded in the study.

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