HOOKAH, MARIJUANA USE INCREASES AMONG LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

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Youth focus group shows growing concern

January 5, 2014 (Spring Valley)– “After the assembly we had last week, I went to the bathroom. It was really smoky. I don’t think it was weed. It was hookah or something. I saw it and smelled it and just got out.”

Stories like this were common when students at a local East County high school participated in a focus group last month to discuss current drug trends on their campus, the Grossmont Union High School District reports.

Several students described similar encounters. “I didn’t want to go in and get the smell on my clothes and have someone think I was doing it,” a sophomore continued about the incident in the bathroom.

According to the East County Youth Coalition, a student group focused on drug and alcohol awareness and prevention among peers, smoking marijuana and hookah have been more popular than ever, both on and off campus.

 “Stories about this kind of behavior flooded our focus group’s conversation this school year,” said Joyce Moore, the group’s leader.

Marijuana use among students increased in 2011 for the fourth straight year, and 40 percent of 11th grade students in the Grossmont district reported having used marijuana at least once in their lifetime according to the 2013 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). National data show that  39 percent of U.S. students grades 9-12 reported having used marijuana in the past year (2011), according to a report from the Center for Substance Abuse.

 In 2013, 21 percent of students in the Grossmont School District reported ever being drunk or high on campus, and six percent reported specifically having used marijuana on campus, according to CHKS. Additionally, the percentage of students who believe that smoking marijuana is very harmful is declining, according to the 2009-2011 CHKS data.

 In addition to marijuana, hookah, a sweetly flavored tobacco product that is smoked in a water bong or a pipe, was said to be popular among youth. Some even plan “hookah sessions,” at a friend’s house after school so they can all meet up to smoke. One participant of the focus group said that she heard several people in her Spanish class planning to meet up after school to smoke.

Comments such as, “It bothers me a lot,” “It’s frustrating. Why do they think they can get away with that?” and “It’s disrespectful,” were made by several focus group members regarding peers smoking on campus.

The group discussed how the proximity of local hookah lounges normalizes smoking. The group also agrees that smoking is a harmful activity, especially on campus, and that students are harming themselves and their peers and compromising the campus environment.

“Not at school. School is supposed to be somewhere to come and get your education and be safe. When you have people who are doing that, they are interfering with that environment,” senior focus group member Ashlyn said about students who choose to smoke on campus.

But the focus group agreed that many students don’t know how bad smoking marijuana and hookah can be and should be made aware of the risks.

Experts say that smoking a substance is the quickest way to deliver it to the system. When a substance enters the lungs, it quickly enters the bloodstream, heading right for the brain. In addition to smoking producing a quicker, more intense high, this rapid delivery affects regions of the brain that facilitate addiction, according to the Genetics Science Center at the University of Utah.

Not only is smoking a substance connected to addiction, but carcinogenic risks of smoking are also high.

 “Hookah smoke is known to contain higher levels of arsenic, lead, and nickel, 36 times more tar, and 15 times more carbon monoxide than cigarettes,” according to a hookah fact sheet from Bacchus Network, a college-based substance abuse prevention group.

Additionally, shisha (the flavored tobacco used in hookahs) contains nicotine and during a 60-minute session, smokers are exposed to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette, according to Bacchus.

 Marijuana addiction is the primary reason why kids ages 12 to 17 are admitted into drug treatment programs (CARS 2010). Also, the average potency of marijuana has increased six fold since 1978, which may be related to higher rates of addiction (NIDA 2009).

Many marijuana smokers don’t know the potency (the amount of THC, the chemical that induces a high in marijuana, they are consuming) or the carcinogenic effects of smoking in general. According to the 2013 CHKS data, 70 percent of those surveyed in the Grossmont district reported that it was very easy to obtain marijuana. Easy access alone can lead to higher numbers in treatment and addiction rates.

When asked what they would do to change things on campus, the focus group agreed that just giving peers facts about the harms of smoking marijuana and hookah may not be enough to stop them.

But there are other things that can be done to address the problem. East County Youth Coalition members are hoping to reduce the number of hookah lounges near their school by voicing their concerns and educating peers, parents, teachers and the community. Ultimately, ECYC members want to prevent their peers from smoking marijuana and hookah, both on and off campus, and hope to put a plan into action this school year by engaging with their school and district administration.


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