A2 Wednesday, March 4, 2020
HOOD RIVER NEWS | Hood River, Ore.
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GREATER GORGE
Pot vaping rates up sharply among high school students
By NEITA CECIL
The Dalles Chronicle
A 2019 state survey shows
about 20 percent of Oregon 11th
graders use marijuana, a rate
unchanged from 2017, but one
method of ingesting it, vaping,
was up nearly 300 percent.
In Wasco and Sherman coun-
ties, the use of pot actually went
down from 2017 to 2019 among
11th graders, from 22.6 percent
to 16.8 percent. But among those
pot users, the increase in vaping
of THC, the ingredient in mar-
ijuana that produces a “high,”
went up a whopping 909 percent
since 2017.
Vaping of THC was linked last
fall to a national epidemic of lung
injuries that have hospitalized
over 2,700 people so far. Sixty
people have died.
In 2017, just 3.3 percent of
Wasco and Sherman teens re-
ported vaping THC. By 2019, it
was 33.3 percent. Despite that
huge increase, local vaping of
THC is still below the state av-
erage, which went up from 11.2
percent of pot users in 2017 to
44.2 percent in 2019.
The survey also found that
about 27 percent of Wasco and
Sherman 11th graders had vaped
in the past 30 days, which re-
searchers consider an indication
of regular use. Just four years ago,
that number was 10 percent. That
local number is higher than the
state average of 21.4 percent.
The Oregon Healthy Teens
Survey, which comes out every
other year, asked 11th graders in
Wasco and Sherman counties a
range of health questions. The
only school districts participat-
ing were North Wasco County
School District 21 and Sherman
County School District.
Vaping was declared an epi-
demic by the U.S. surgeon gen-
eral in 2018, and last fall a vap-
ing lung injury outbreak drew
national attention, with reports
of people being injured or dying
from vaping.
Two students from The Dalles
High School were taken to the
hospital last fall after vaping, ac-
cording to police logs.
The nationally reported tal-
lies for vaping injuries include
two deaths and 23 illnesses in
Oregon.
Most cases were linked to the
vaping of THC, particularly from
informal sources like friends,
family or online sources.
The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control found vitamin E acetate
is strongly linked to the illness
outbreak. Vitamin E acetate is
an additive used by producers to
increase their product.
Vaping devices heat a liquid to
produce an aerosol that users in-
hale into their lungs. The devices
come in a variety of sleek forms,
from ones shaped like USB devic-
es or flash drives to vape watches.
There are thousands of flavors
of e-liquids, the vast majority of
which contain nicotine, the same
highly addictive ingredient found
in cigarettes.
Other e-liquids contain THC.
Debby Jones, Wasco County
prevention specialist with Youth-
Think, said the data shows kids
are taking advantage of new
mechanisms for using pot, par-
ticularly vaping and dabs, which
were the two highest increases
locally. Dabs are highly concen-
trated, waxlike doses of THC
that are heated, and the resulting
smoke is inhaled.
“We don’t have more kids
using it, the kids that are have
more ways to use it and abuse it,”
she said.
Steps like banning flavors of
vape “are really important be-
cause that’s one of the easier
ways for kids to get it. But we have
to get ahead of it, the industry is
always ahead of us,” she said.
A bill in the Oregon Legislature
would ban all flavored nicotine
vapes. The ban wouldn’t include
marijuana vapes.
“At some point making money
has to be less important than the
health of our children, and that
to me is the biggest challenge,”
Jones said.
“Anything addictive is all
about, on the other side, some-
body making money, be it opi-
oids, gambling, porn, you name
it,” she said.
The data from Wasco and
Sherman counties are reported
together because they are part of
the three-county North Central
Public Health District. Gilliam
County is also in the district, but
did not participate in the latest
survey.
For more information on vap-
ing, visit SmokefreeOregon.com
or www.youthnow.me/schools.
SUDOKU
This week’s Sudoku is presented by:
Your Business Name
Permit period in place for Dog Mtn. trail
The U.S. Forest Service re-
leased online permits on March
1 at www.recreation.gov for hik-
ers headed to Dog Mountain on
weekends from April 18 to June
14 this year.
The permits are required as
part of a partnership that began
in 2018 to ensure public safety
near Dog Mountain Trailhead,
USFS stated in a press release.
Every hiker on the Dog Moun-
tain Trail system on Saturdays
and Sundays between April 18 to
June 14 will be required to carry a
permit (or digital proof).
More details about the permit
system and related shuttle are
available at fs.usda.gov/goto/
crgnsa/hikedogmountain.
There are two ways for hikers
to obtain permits:
■ Ride the shuttle from Ste-
venson. A permit is included
automatically with the cost of
the Skamania County West End
Transit bus from Skamania Fair-
grounds in Stevenson. Seats are
available on a first come, first
served basis, for $1 per person
per trip, or $2 round trip (cash,
exact change only). Each permit
is good for one individual on the
day it is issued. The shuttle runs
about every half hour from 7:30
a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends from
April 18 to June 14.
■ Reserve a permit online.
Anyone parking at Dog Moun-
tain Trailhead will need to re-
serve one permit for each person
online at www.recreation.gov
and pay the $1 non-refundable
administrative fee (per person) in
addition to paying the recreation
site fee of $5 per car.
This year, 100 permits will be
released for each day through
the permit season. The permit
system is designed to limit con-
gestion, but a permit does not
guarantee a parking spot will be
available at the time a hiker ar-
rives, so visitors are encouraged
to carpool.
Horizon Christian School invites you to an:
OPEN
HOUSE
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