CDC: E-cigarettes, hookahs popular among middle and high-schoolers

[jayfish]

35. This Is One of The Most Sensationalistic, Much Ado About Nothing, Stories I have Seen In Some Time.

2.8 and 5.4 percent? That's "popular"? That's "embracing"? Give me a f'ing break! By comparison:


CDC-Youth and Tobacco Use

Cigarettes
Each day in the United States, nearly 4,000 people younger than 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,000 youth in that age group become new daily cigarette smokers.2,6 This means that nearly 400,000 young people become daily smokers each year.6

Percentage of high school students who smoked one or more cigarettes in the previous month in 2011

18.1% of high school students

16.1% of female high school students
19.9% of male high school students

CDC-Underage Drinking

Alcohol use by persons under age 21 years is a major public health problem Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs, and is responsible for more than 4,700 annual deaths among underage youth. Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks. On average, underage drinkers consume more drinks per drinking occasion than adult drinkers. In 2010, there were approximately 189,000 emergency rooms visits by persons under age 21 for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol.

Drinking Levels among Youth

The 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that among high school students, during the past 30 days

39% drank some amount of alcohol.
22% binge drank.
8% drove after drinking alcohol.
24% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

UofM-Teens and 'Extreme' Binge Drinking

A recent study finds 10% of high school seniors take part in "extreme binge drinking," that's 10 or more alcoholic drinks in a single sitting.

Addictions experts tells 21 News they are not surprised by the study, and some believe social media plays a role in the trend.

"It's a social norm anymore," said Meghan Fortner, an addiction treatment expert for youth and young adults at Meridian Community Care in Youngstown. "It's truly the less inhibited you are the more funny, the more popular, the more 'likes' you get, the more 're-tweets' you get, and it becomes viral and kids enjoy that, it's that attention."

The University of Michigan study surveyed more than 16,000 high school seniors between 2005 and 2011. The surveys found one in ten high schools seniors engaged in extreme binge drinking at least once in the past two weeks. That's 10 or more alcoholic drinks in a single sitting. The study also found one in 20 had 15 or more drinks in a row.

Energy Drinks Are Sending Teens to ERs and May Be Killing Them, Too

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reported that as many as five deaths between 2009 and 2012 could be linked to Monster's energy drinks. It also linked 13 deaths with the drink, 5-Hour Energy. According to the New York Times, these FDA reports were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Fournier’s mother, Wendy Crossland.

Most likely in order to avoid the bad press associated with allegedly killing teens, Monster rebranded its drink a “beverage” rather than a dietary supplement in March, a move which no longer requires the company to report any deaths associated with its drink. Instead, Monster is required to include caffeine content on the product’s labeling.

The issue of excess caffeine in popular drinks first made front-page news when the caffeinated alcoholic malt beverage Four Loko sent flurries of teenagers to the hospital. The disturbing trend led the company to drop caffeine from its products when the FDA stepped in, in 2010. Aside from its restriction of beverages that mix alcohol and caffeine following the Four Loko debacle, the FDA does not regulate energy drinks—despite the fact that energy drinks were involved in a startling 20,000 emergency room visits in 2011, a figure that more than doubled in size from 2007.

The recent slew of teen deaths led a handful of U.S. senators to call on the FDA to regulate the drinks last year, and for the first time the medical community is now calling for the regulation of energy drinks.

I'd gladly have more teens using personal vaporizers than any of the activities listed above.