Health Spotlight: Vaping; Biden’s marijuana review; Butler player diagnosed
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – According to a new study by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaping remains common for teenagers. The study estimates more than 2.5 million middle school and high school students used E-cigarettes this year. Of the teens who used e-cigarettes, more than one quarter of them reportedly were using daily. Nearly 85% of teens who vape say they use flavored E-cigarettes. I spoke with WISH-TV’s medical expert and former U.S. Surgeon General about this report.
Dr. Mary Gillis: You’ve dealt with E-cigarettes as a surgeon general. Does this report surprise you and what needs to happen to reverse this trend?
Dr. Jerome Adams: It doesn’t surprise me. As you’ve mentioned, I’ve dealt with this before. In 2018, I put out a surgeon general advisory, the first of its kind in over 10 years warning about the dangers of rising youth use of E-cigarettes, and as far as what people can do about it. First of all, you’ve got to know the facts. Parents and children need to know that nicotine is in these products. Unfortunately when we survey young people, too many of them think that they are literally just taking harmless water vapor. They don’t understand that there’s incredibly addictive nicotine. They’re designed to be as addictive or more addictive than cigarettes. We know that nicotine changes the way your brain works and not only can it make you dependent, but it can make you agitated. It can make concentration difficult. It’s not harmless for folks. Parents can take action by talking to their children or other young people about the dangers.
Gillis: President Biden announced significant changes to marijuana policy last week. I wanted to get your reaction. I know you’re specifically concerned about the impact on teenagers.
Adams: Regardless of how you feel about adult use of these products, legal doesn’t mean safe. We have alcohol, it’s legal, we have tobacco, it’s legal, but we don’t tell kids to smoke cigars or to go out and drink alcohol or beer. I want young people in particular to know that frequent marijuana use can impair your attention, your memory, and decision making. The science tells us that people who regularly use marijuana are more likely to show a decline in IQ and school performance. They’re more likely to miss classes and ultimately drop out. We’re going to have to continue the discussion about legalization versus decriminalization and adult use. No matter how that discussion goes, I hope we can all agree that young people shouldn’t be using marijuana, particularly this new, more potent marijuana that is five to 10 times more potent than what marijuana used to be even a decade ago.
Gillis: There’s another story we’ve been reporting on. Butler University confirms basketball player Jalen Thomas will miss at least a month after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. That’s a blood clot in the lungs, something we don’t often see in young athletes. Are you surprised to hear that diagnosis? How serious is this?
Adams: It’s incredibly rare and incredibly serious. It’s a blood clot in your lung and it can literally prevent oxygen from getting to the rest of your body. People die after these, which is why they said no more playing. I want to remind people that Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat had a pulmonary embolism many years ago and actually sat out for a while and then came back. It’s not unprecedented for someone to come back, but we just never know because that clot doesn’t start in the lungs. Typically, it comes from the leg that comes from other parts of the body, and you want to make sure that clot completely goes away and that it doesn’t reform again at a different time.
Gillis: One final question. The NFL announced changes to its concussion protocol. You and I talked about it last month after the injury to the Miami Dolphins quarterback. Do the changes go far enough?
Adams: Well, those changes involved switching out gross motor instability which is what the NFL used previously for ataxia–a term that literally means without coordination. It can include loss of coordination, difficulty walking, or poor balance. We’re always going to have a trade off in a sport where grown men are literally barreling towards each other and crashing into each other’s heads, so you’re going to continue to see concussions. This is a step in the right direction to provide more protection, (and) more safety, and again, what they said if you have ataxia, it’s a no go. We don’t care what the evaluation is. You cannot come back in the game. I think that if they had done that for Tua, he obviously wouldn’t have gone back in the game and he might not have had that unfortunate situation we saw. We’re always going to have this balance in what is an inherently violent sport.