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Teens Are Vaping in Record Numbers. But Fewer Than Ever Are Drinking and Smoking
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Time
Posted: December 23rd, 2018
http://time.com/5478946/teen-vaping-drinking-rates/
Teen vaping is reaching new heights of popularity, while underage drinking is plummeting to historic lows, according to new data from the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey. [National Institute on Drug Abuse] Director Dr. Nora Volkow says those record-setting peaks and valleys arent necessarily related. Volkow says the sleek designs of many top e-cigarette brands are also uniquely appealing to a generation that grew up surrounded by devices. The new generation, their brain has developed to embrace these technologies, Volkow says. There is a massive change in culture that may be contributing to decreases in alcohol drinking, particularly heavy alcohol drinking, Volkow says. Many more teenagers interact through social media as opposed to interacting physically with one another. Taking drugs is a social behavior. By decreasing the opportunity that teenagers have of being face to face with one another, you may be decreasing the total exposure to these drugs, including alcohol. Perhaps for some of the same reasons, other research has shown that teen sex is also on a downward trend. Tobacco use is also as low as its ever been, with just 3.6% of high school seniors reporting smoking daily. Aside from vaping, marijuana use was one of the only substance categories that did not decline in this years survey. Still, the survey results are largely encouraging for public health, with the exception of the rapidly rising vaping rates.
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