Vaping Has Skyrocketed So High Amongst Canadian Teens That Experts Are Now Calling It A Full-Fledged Epidemic

While marijuana legalization may have been one of the hottest topics this year when it comes to smoking in Canada, a very close second has been the controversy surrounding vaping. In the past few years, the trend has grown extremely popular, especially amongst younger generations and now it's becoming a large concern. 

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Research done as of recent has shown some terrifying realities, that not only has the rate of teenage vaping spiked by 80% in one year in the United States, but cigarette smoking in the teenage demographic is now rising for the first time in three decades. 

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Professor David Hammond, who is a public health professor at the University of Waterloo has been conducting research to discover the results of Canada's vaping problem since May. It was then that the country legalized nicotine vaping products, and shortly after Juul entered the Canadian market-a fan favourite amongst teenagers. 

Hammonds findings were so shocking that he couldn't wait until the information was published in a formal journal in a few months and rather introduced his data at a meeting with the Scientific Advisory Board on Vaping Products in November. Claiming that Canada's problem is no different than the full-fledged epidemic the United States is currently experiencing.

It isn't just Hammond who has done research and found some astonishing data. The Durham Region Health Department did their own research as well and found that 17% of students in high school are vaping, meaning five students out of every class of 30. 

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The issue isn't Ontario exclusive either considering a North Vancouver high school had to resort to shutting down their bathrooms in an effort to limit students from vaping on school property. 

While there has been a move on Health Canada's behalf to halt the promotion of vaping for teenagers by putting restrictions on packaging and marketing tactics as of November 19th, it's too early to tell if it's had any significant impact. Though it would be naive to believe that one move will be able to solve the problem that is continuing to spiral out of control in high schools across the country. 

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Unfortunately, Hammonds research will not be formally published for a few more months, meaning we'll have to wait a little bit longer to see all the data for ourselves. For the time being, Health Canada continues to warn Canadians not to start vaping unless they are already a smoker and are trying to kick their habit. 

Source: CBC News