E-cigarettes hooking more high school kids

Written by Quentin Fottrel via Market Watch

The number of middle and high-school students who have tried so-called “e-cigarettes” has tripled in the past three years, and is doubling the number of youth who say they will begin smoking regular cigarettes too, according to a new survey.

The study from the 2011-2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey, released Monday in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, showed that the number of middle and high-schoolers who’ve tried e-cigarettes, but never conventional cigarettes, shot up to 263,000 in 2013, up from 79,000 in 2011. Even more significant, almost half of those kids surveyed said they planned to smoke regular cigarettes within a year.

The study is likely to add pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to begin regulating those tobacco-like products.

Anti-smoking advocates like the American Lung Association said that study shows “e-cigarette use among youth will be kids on a lifelong addition to nicotine and tobacco products,” according to Harold Wimmer, national president of the ALA. He called on the Obama administration and the FDA to finalize new regulation to control use of e-cigarettes by the end of 2014 “so that we do not lose another generation of kids to tobacco-caused death and disease.”

Federal laws prohibit traditional cigarettes from being marketed to people under 18 years old, but there are no federal limits for e-cigarette makers. Unlike tobacco products, e-cigarettes carry no child-warning labels.

Moreover, major tobacco companies Altria Group MO, +0.21%  , Reynolds American RAI, +0.21%   and Lorillard LO, +0.30%   have all started producing e-cigarettes and recent e-cigarette commercials feature TV personality Jenny McCarthy and actor Stephen Dorff.

Shot's of e-Cig juice with a Red Bull chaser?

Are you effing kidding me right now?  The Inquisitr by way of the Chicago Tribune is reporting that that teens
are now using e-cigarettes to get high.

High schools students in Chicago are using e-cigarettes to consume THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Not a bad idea, as it would have saved me time between class but here's the real kicker with a stupid factor of 99.9.  According to Fox News Insider, kids and teens are also using the vials of nicotine that come with e-cigarettes.  The report stated that teens have been drinking the nicotine.  Even going so far as to mix it with an energy drinks to get a quick buzz on.

KIDS:  This is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.  Nicotine is fatal at 30 - 60 mgs.  It's a  very potent drug.   Once it's in your blood stream, it will increase your heart rate and your blood pressure.  Very likely chance that you could drop dead.

Look, when I was a kid in high school, I mis interpreted the high part and I experimented and had fun.  I will not tell you that a little messing around and experimenting will land you in a van down by the river, but I will tell you that shots of nicotine with a Red Bull chaser is about as smart as playing Russian Roulette with Christopher Walken.  It just doesn't end well.

Leave this one alone please...

Cigarette smoking may change brains of young smokers

 Young adult smokers may experience changes in the structures of their brains due to cigarette smoking, even with a relatively short smoking history, a study of adolescents suggests. It also suggests that smoking during this critical time period and the neurobiological changes that result may explain why adults who begin smoking at a young age stay hooked on cigarettes.”

The authors concluded that, “While this was a small study and needs to be replicated, our findings show an apparent effect of smoking on brain structure in young people, even with a relatively short smoking history. And that is a concern. It suggests that smoking during this critical time period produces neurobiological changes that may cause a dependence on tobacco in adulthood.”

READ WHOLE REPORT HERE:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140304113540.htm