Frequency of adolescent cannabis smoking and vaping in the United States: Trends, disparities and concurrent substance use, 2017-19.

Introduction:
This text is a research report on the frequency of adolescent cannabis smoking and vaping in the United States from 2017 to 2019. The report examines trends, disparities, and concurrent substance use among adolescents. It is based on data from the national Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey and employs survey-weighted multinomial logistic regression models to assess trends and disparities in past 30-day cannabis use.

Key Points:

* Past 30-day frequent cannabis use with vaping and occasional use with vaping rose from 2017 to 2019.
* Past 30-day frequent and occasional cannabis use without vaping declined during the same period.
* Certain groups, such as hispanic/Latino or lower socio-economic status adolescents, experienced particularly notable increases in frequent cannabis use with vaping.
* adolescents who reported smoking and vaping nicotine, and 10+ occasions of binge drinking, were more likely to report past 30-day cannabis use with vaping.
* The study controlled for grade, sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, urbanicity, year, and the remaining substance use item not already included.
* Multiple imputation by chained equations in Stata was used to handle missing data.
* The study was not pre-registered, and the results should be considered exploratory.

Main Message:
The study found that cannabis use without vaping appears to be declining among adolescents in the United States, while cannabis use with vaping is accelerating. Frequent cannabis vaping is especially increasing, with consistent increases across almost all adolescent demographic groups. Cannabis use among US adolescents remains highly associated with other substance use. These findings highlight the urgent need for public health intervention and increased regulation to address rising concerns about cannabis vaping in terms of safety, high ThC delivery, and potential for transition to cannabis use disorder, especially at frequent levels of use.

Keyes KM, Kreski NT, ankrum h, et al. Frequency of adolescent cannabis smoking and vaping in the United States: Trends, disparities and concurrent substance use, 2017-19. addiction (abingdon, England). 2022;117(8):2316-2324. doi:10.1111/add.15912