Study: Vaping rises among Washington teens, alcohol use remains low

Alcohol and cigarette use remains low among teens, but vaping is totally in, at least that’s what 10th graders said when asked in a survey by the Washington Health Care Authority. You know how teens love surveys.

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The latest Washington Healthy Youth Survey found that alcohol use and binge drinking have steadily declined among youth over the past decade, and were relatively stable between 2016 and 2018.

One in five 10th graders admitted to the survey takers (and probably not their parents) that they used alcohol in the past month, with 1 in 10 engaging in binge drinking the past couple weeks.

But they more than made up for that with vaping. Use of vapor products in the past 30 days among 10th graders rose from 13 percent in 2016 to 21 percent in 2018, with four times as many 10th  graders reported vaping (21 percent) instead of cigarettes (5 percent) in 2018. Only about a third of 10th graders believed vaping was harmful.

The downward trend on alcohol seems to align with the recent news that starting on September 1, 2019, fraternities at colleges across the country will not be permitted to have hard alcohol at parties. UW implemented the ban starting on Jan. 1 of this year.

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While marijuana use among teens has remained steady despite legalization, 21 percent of 10th graders who vaped did report using THC (marijuana) in their vapor product.

“Kids, families and communities in our state need to be aware of the dangers of vaping,” said Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. “Vaping products are too easily accessed by young people, as the survey results show. We must make sure adults understand the issue, and are talking with the children in their lives about this disturbing trend.”

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