Photographer: Andrew Burton / Getty Images
Photographer: Andrew Burton / Getty Images
Vaping cannabis may put teenagers at a greater risk of developing symptoms of lung injury than those who smoke cigarettes, or marijuana, or who vape nicotine, according to a new study.
Teenagers were about twice as likely to report wheezing or hissing in the chest than those who used electronic cigarettes or smoked, results from the University of Michigan showed. The researchers also assessed whether participants reported a dry cough at night that was not linked to a temporary infection or sounded wheezing during exercise.
The findings challenge conventional wisdom that smoking cigarettes or vaporizing nicotine is most damaging to the lungs, said Carol Boyd, chief researcher and professor at the university’s School of Nursing.
“Without a doubt, cigarettes and electronic cigarettes are not healthy and are not good for the lungs,” Boyd said in a statement on the university’s website. “However, vaporizing marijuana looks even worse.”
The researchers did not find that the use of e-cigarettes or cigarettes led to more respiratory symptoms in the adolescents who participated in the study. They did not specify where cannabis products were purchased and whether they were legal.
Vaporization devices have increasingly become a popular way to consume cannabis, including in the form of wax or oil. A wave of mysterious lung diseases and vaping-related deaths left the industry in a whirlwind before the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally found a link to vitamin E acetate, which has been used as a cutting agent in e-liquids containing THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana – usually in illicit products.
Read more: Even Nobel-winning chemists don’t know what’s in their weed Vape
The University of Michigan study included thousands of teenagers aged 12 to 17 who reported symptoms in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. A limitation of the report is that it did not look at the co-use of vaporized cannabis and cigarettes or e-cigarettes, the researchers said.
Michael R. Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, father of Bloomberg News, campaigned and donated money in support of a US ban on flavored and tobacco electronic cigarettes.
(Updates with details on cannabis products from the fifth paragraph.)