RICHMOND, Va. -- An increasing number of teenagers are using e-cigarettes to get high, according to a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study found that nearly one-fifth of high school students in Connecticut who use e-cigarettes have tried using marijuana with them.
"That’s a new one on me," parent Charlotte Babb said. "The trends are hard. They’re constantly going to come up with creative ways to do that."
Doctor Eric Freeman, a pediatrician with Old Dominion Pediatrics, said he sees teenage patients who admit to vaping pot with e-cigarettes.
"I think this is a very important concern that must be addressed by school administrators and law enforcement officials," Dr. Freeman said. "They’re able to use hash oil, or they’re able to use marijuana that has been infused into wax."
Freeman said the method allows the teens to better hide their habit.
"It will not give off the same odor, it will not give off the same vapor," he said.
He also said it would provide a more intense high.
"Delivery of marijuana through an e-cigarette can provide potency that is four to 30 times as high as traditional marijuana use," Freeman said. "There is critical neurological development of the brain in middle school and high school students, particularly in upper level an executive cognitive functioning, and we really are unsure of the long term impact of the metabolites of marijuana on the developing brain."
