Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
The prevalence of cannabis vaping among teens in Canada and the United States has doubled in the last seven years, a new study has found.
The study was led by Australian researchers and was published on Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The researchers conducted a meta-analysis looking at 17 studies conducted between 2003 and 2020, involving a total of 198,845 North American adolescents 18 years of age or younger.
The researchers found that between 2013 and 2016, 6.1 per cent of middle and high school students had tried vaping cannabis at least once in their life. But in 2019 and 2020, that figure was 13.6 per cent.
The increase in prevalence was found to be consistent across grades, with older students having the highest prevalence of cannabis vaping. From 2013-2016, the prevalence of lifetime cannabis vaping was 14.6 per cent for Grade 12 students. In 2019-2020, that number was 28.1 per cent.
For Grade 10 students, 10.5 per cent reported having tried vaping cannabis in 2013-2016 while the prevalence in 2012-2020 was 22.9 per cent. Among students in Grades 6 to 9, the prevalence was 3.4 per cent in 2013-2016 and 7.2 per cent in 2019-2020.
The data also suggests that the number of teens who regularly vape cannabis is increasing. Among students in all grades, only 1.4 per cent of those surveyed between 2013 and 2016 reported vaping cannabis in the previous 30 days. In 2019-2020, that figure was 8.4 per cent.
The authors say that widening access to cannabis vaping products through the legalization of cannabis in Canada and many U.S. states could explain this increase. They also suggest that adolescent use of nicotine vaping products could be a gateway drug for cannabis vaping.
Vaping devices, also known as e-cigarettes, were initially marketed as a smoking cessation device for adults but have exploded in popularity among teens in the last decade. Most vaping devices are designed to heat nicotine-containing flavoured liquids, but they can also be used to heat and vaporize dried cannabis herbs or cannabis oil.
"Existing preventive measures should focus on both smoking and vaping cannabis and develop specific health messages for vaping cannabis by highlighting the potential harms of using highly potent cannabis vaping products," the authors wrote.
Vaping cannabis is also perceived to be healthier than smoking cannabis due to the lower exposure of combustion particles, the authors say.
However, cannabis vaping is not without its own health risks. A U.S. study from 2021 found that adolescent cannabis vaping was associated with a nearly two-fold increase in respiratory symptoms, while several other studies have found that heavy cannabis use in adolescence was associated with poorer cognitive development.
On top of all this, many cannabis vapers are choosing to use cannabis oils, which are far more potent, rather than dried herbs.
"With increasing changes in cannabis policy and legalization of adult use, the increasing prevalence of adolescent cannabis vaping indicates a need for more studies to understand the potential harms," the authors wrote.
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
World Food Programme executive director Cindy McCain says people living in Gaza are 'wasting' as famine concerns continue amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the “Friends” actor received the anesthetic ketamine, which was ruled a contributing factor in his death.
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is facing fresh Conservative-led calls to resign, this time over "very partisan" and 'inflammatory' language used – the Liberals say mistakenly – to promote an upcoming event.
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues the 'Team Canada' charm offensive to U.S. lawmakers and business leaders, Canada's ambassador to the United States downplayed the effect of another Trump presidency on Canada.
Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada Goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.