Teens who vape or use hookah are more likely to use marijuana later, study finds

(CNN, August 6) Could vaping and using hookah lead to marijuana use down the line?

According to a recent study published in Pediatrics, teens who used vape pens (e-cigarettes) and hookah were over three times more likely to try marijuana later on. Researchers surveyed approximately 2,600 public high school students when they were freshmen (asking them if they used e-cigs, combustible cigarettes or hookah) and followed up with them when they were in the 11th grade (asking them if they used marijuana products). They found that students who used e-cigarettes when they were in ninth grade were more likely to eventually use marijuana than those who didn’t use e-cigarettes.

"Once you start vaping, I think you become known as the person who vapes, who's cool," Richard Miech, a professor at the University of Michigan said, reports CNN. "You get invited to parties where people are going to smoke cigarettes and smoke marijuana because you vape already. So there's that social component." Read more. 

Read the study: “Adolescent E-Cigarette, Hookah, and Conventional Cigarette Use and Subsequent Marijuana Use”