215 people sickened by vaping? Difficulty breathing? Give me a break. Such hypocrisy. Who writes this stuff, Big Tobacco? Smoking cigarettes kill millions...If society really cared about the health of its people, not to mention the dollar costs of medical care for lung disease, the growing and smoking of tobacco would be illegal...
8
The worst thing you can do for your health is to smoke regular cigarettes. If you're trying to quit, but are worried about the safety of e-cigs, one option would be to buy them from somewhere that regulates them for purity and limits nicotine content like the UK. Plenty of sites online.
6
The most dangerous addictive products are made by big pharma and big tobacco. Forget the "cannabis and street drug" myth.
7
Yet another reason to legalize thc and regulate vape carts by testing as Cali and other legal states are doing. Fake/counterfeit vape carts and oils are harming people in the so-called “illegals” — states where vaping thc is illegal and regulated products are unavailable unless smuggled.
12
That’s advice that’s unlikely to be heard, as in the opioid crisis.
1
This article really got me. Thank you.
JUUL needs to leave this planet.
Save the kids!
10
How many ? Must be Thousands of People kilted by this MYLAN Co. drug producer .
1
Oh sure, vaping poison from a device bought in a store is so much better for you than vaping poison from a device bought on the street.
8
If you want to vape pot, vape the plant directly.
Today, there are wonderful home and portable vapes that let you do this.
Buy an Arizer Argo, or Firefly 2+. You can take them anywhere. There is a cost up front, but you will save money in the long run.
Also, you will save your body from who knows what is in that oil, especially if you can get organic cannabis.
19
Just make sure folks can't buy peanut flavored vape oil. After all, many people are allergic to peanuts.
2
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!!
2
This article should be 2 words long: DON'T VAPE!
11
Or any.
1
Looks like I'll be smoking my pot the olde fashioned way for a while.
5
No issues with legal vapes be they nicotine or THC. The legal MA system regulates THC from plant to sale. Illegal off the streets carts.... what could possibly go wrong ? Either know the source or smoke the plant. Yet another side effect of a crazy system. These folks were killed or injured by the illegal market.
6
I vape to relieve the shortness of breath and chest pain the news causes me.
11
How’s about not using them at all.
2
This is what happens when China produces nearly everything.
@Don Q The inventor of modern vape devices was a Chinese pharmacist looking for a less harmful way use nicotine -- after his father died of lung cancer. One example of a great harm reduction invention (in my opinion).
This appears to be more about THC in combination with a solvent rather than with "Vaping" in general. I think the Times has perhaps climbed out on a weak branch based on the headlines.
China, like all modern industrial economies, has companies that care about their reputations and those that do not.
9
Cannabis cookies and hash brownies have always been the thinking person's delivery mechanism of choice. Now more than ever :_>
7
Don’t buy stuff off the street. Any New Yorker could have written this study...
5
Aside from the whole discussion about the addictiveness of vaped nicotine (or THC, or whatever other psychoactive substance), this warning is specifically about products that are of questionable, usually untraceable origin. It might be okay, or contain toxic solvents like hexane, or be laced with rat poison - how would anyone know? So, unless you have ready access to an analytical chemistry laboratory with a mass spectrometer (very few of us have), it's buyers beware. You literally don't know what's in that stuff bought off the street, so don't put it in your lungs. And, on this, I agree with the CDC.
13
The C.D.C. is warning about vaping, but the F.D.A. doesn’t say boo. It’s fine with them if people inhale huge amounts of highly addictive nicotine laced with artificial chemical flavors. When it comes to cannabis, the F.D.A. has only allowed a very limited use for patients suffering from a very small class of disorders. It seems to me that the F.D.A. has its priorities badly mixed up. I guess there must be more money in e-cigs than in medical marijuana.
7
Perhaps the CDC can issue a more general recommendation: don't inhale burning substances. Period.
6
Not to be alarmist, but could this have been deliberate? Somebody putting poison in cartridges sold on the street?
According to Vice, one teenager, who admitted to vaping THC, was told by doctors that he had the “lungs of a 70 year old.” What could possibly cause that, in such a short period of time, other than a deliberately introduced toxin targeting the lungs
5
There is no need for anyone to vape any liquids containing unknown chemicals. If you are interested in vaping tobacco or cannabis, buy yourself a dry herb vaporizer. Examples would be a Dynavap M, Pax 3 or a Volcano vaporizer. I happen to own all three. Use it with either rolling/pipe tobacco or your favorite strain of cannabis.
This way, you do not need to trust unknown makers of mystery liquids and can be sure that what you are inhaling is at the very least not more harmful than smoking a joint or a cigarette. Vaping is safer than smoking, but only if you know exactly what it is that you are vaping.
9
Tobacco products should require a prescription.
1
Vapes use lithium batteries which produce a tremendous amount of heat quickly. If the distance between the mouthpiece and the battery is short, and the vaped substance does not block a little of the heat, you get a blast of red-hot air down your throat and into your lungs. Tried a vape a week, noticed the effect (it was a cheap vape, short barrel) and gave it up wisely. Add some kind of solvent to that and you get burned-out lungs.
5
There are various portable vaporizers for plant material. Oil pods are not only sketchy but wasteful.
Be careful out there.
“I think this is probably going to be associated with illegal products,” Dr. Gottlieb said. “It’s not like the major manufacturers have suddenly changed their ingredients,” he said. “It’s probably something new that has been introduced into the market by an illegal manufacturer, either a new flavor or a new way to emulsify T.H.C. that is causing these injuries.”
I think it’s a big leap to assume illegal manufacturing is the culprit when vaping is still so new and therefore the long term health impacts not well understood. After all, legal and regulated manufacturing also produces cigarettes and we know they kill people.
7
@Jason Alexander vaping nicotine has been around as we know it now for over 13 years, these lung problems have surfaced since June...so three months. This most definitely points to black market products! Their is also plenty of European studies showing the safety of vaping vs smoking...do look into the Royal College of Physicians and their claim that vaping (e-cigs) being more then 95% safer than combustible
cigarettes.
10
"The number of reported cases of severe respiratory illnesses totals 215 people in 25 states since late June, officials said."
For a country of hundres of millions of people this does not seem like a particularly large number, but context and data should have been provided. For I stance, how does it compare to the same period of time year over year, over the past 10 years?
It seems that it would not have been too difficult to do a better job reporting here.
6
Vaping is simply too new to make these types of comparisons.
1
Literally tens of millions of thc vaping carts have been manufactured and consumed in the past several years in states that have legalized and regulate their contents. Legitimate commercial manufacturers do not use pesticides and other chemicals in their products. That only a few hundred cases of acute lung problems resulting from vaping have been experienced in the last three to four months highly suggests the culprits are unregulated/counterfeit carts containing pesticides and/or harmful chemicals used in growing/distilling these “street” drugs. Only buy and use carts from legitimate producers and dispensaries.
2
To have allowed a nicotine-dispensing device on the market was asking for trouble. Add to that a bunch of known chemicals that many would be better off not inhaling, plus unknown stuff off the street, and we now have many of our youth addicted to toxin dispensers. More will die, and the the stories of some on oxygen at age 18 are particularly poignant.
9
@Mike S.
Say hello to nicotine patches and gums for like... the last 20+ years, without any prescription either.
2
@Mike S. We already have a truly harmful nicotine-dispensing device on the market called cigarettes. British health system put out a public service announcement showing how much junk they put in your lungs vs e-cigs for 16 packs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RisBe5sLGPc
They also regulate their e-cigs over there for purity, and to limit nicotine. Don't like regulations, but maybe we need some.
1
These products need to be taken off of store shelves and if they have any value in getting people to quit smoking made available by prescription, and by medical professionals not online scammers.
16
Here is an idea: don’t vape. Period. Health risk solved.
45
As a pot smoker back in the day heaven knows, it lead to heroin addiction or so they said. 50 years later
when I became a legal cannabis patient I have to say that I was floored when to reload my legal vape with legally obtained vape oil I was given a hypodermic needle to reload it.
I have since given it up and gone old school at tremendous savings. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Pot works the system doesn’t.
25
@John
You really are NOT supposed to be filling your own cannabis cartridges. Leave it to the pros who manufacture cartridges pre-filled.
And by the way.. it's not a hypodermic needle, it is a dispensing needle.. which is too dull to use for injections in the human body.
Stop fear mongering.
10
Listen up, youngsters - over 21. Old hippie here. Grow a plant on your balcony or the back of the garden. Learn from a video how to make cannabis-înfused butter. Make a huge batch of Alice B. Toklas brownies or fancy chocolates. Keep them, labeled, in the freezer out of the reach of children, pets and Grandma. Well, depends on the grandma.
Edibles are the least expensive, longest lasting, and least body-harming way to enjoy cannabis. Great for a peaceful sleep-inducing nightcap for us Boomers, as well.
The problem with those sleek little vape pens, as another reader noted, is that they encourage near-constant and escalating use. Which is bad for you.
If you have to put some effort into your time with the green goddess, you will find it becomes a much more balanced, special-occasional and non-commercial part of your life, like epic cooking.
88
@Bohemian Sarah
In other words.. cook up some homemade edibles with who knows what potency per ounce of edible? /eyeroll.
Just buy premade, controlled dose edibles of your choice, that have been properly lab tested to be free of pesticides, fertilizers, mold, bugs, etc... and be done with it. The end cost is virtually the same at the end of the day.
6
@Bohemian Sarah Do Grandma a favor and give her a brownie.
2
The CDC must release the results of their investigation IMMEDIATELY, even if not finished or not conclusive. "The Food and Drug Administration is analyzing about 80 samples received from patients, but has not made the results public."
5
So, I thought a while back, it would be nice if I could just grow a single plant of my own for my own use, and know exactly what it is and what's (not) on it. What could the harm in that be?
Then I looked up the laws in my state, and learned that the penalty for growing ONE plant is a MANDATORY 3-year minimum in jail. I'm terrified of jail, so that's out, but if "officials" are so concerned about our safety, then that policy is just plain stupid.
But NO ONE is gonna take away my Juul (tobacco-flavored pods, because the other "flavors" sound ridiculous and gross)! I have a rule that I smoke it only after 4:30 pm, but I just love the thing--probably less for the nicotine and more for the hand and oral thing, which was the main reason I used to smoke cigarettes. Believe me--I've had much more risky habits in the (distant) past, so I consider this one quite tame. I just turned 58. At some point I'm pretty sure something will kill me, but I doubt it will be my little Juul habit (or my own pretty little cannabis plant, if I were allowed to grow one).
12
A government that has always ignored popular sentiment about cannabis should be the last to blame THC for the problem. It's the decision to continue bad public policy that lies at the root of any harm the FDA or Surgeon General wishes they could attach to cannabis of THC.
Keeping a popular item of public consumption illegal, when it's considerably safer than alcohol, is practically inviting people with bad motives to make a quick buck, cut corners, and take unacceptable risks with public health.
When they catch the people directly responsible for such stupid decisions, it would be good if somehow those whose public policy role encouraged such a trade found reason to charge them as co-conspirators and ENABLERS of the "war on drugs"
15
I thought all e-cigarettes were manufactured in China, including the contents of the refills.
And I understood that this wasn’t under FDA scrutiny.
I trust the tobacco and additives from U.S. manufactured cigs more than some untested product from China, IMHO. Who knows what’s in China’s cartridges.
9
@Dorothy You are ill informed. Juices are made in the United States not to mention you can make your own. It is ill informed information that is causing a panic. Hundreds of MILLIONS of people vape worldwide and it has saved lives by not smoking. Please educate yourself before passing on bogus information.
6
@Richard R. Conrad - You don't know that lives have been saved. Smoking doesn't kill you right away. It's entirely possible that in several decades the people who have switched to vaping because they thought it was safer will discover that vaping has harmed them in the same (or different) horrible ways that cigarettes would have.
4
As the climate changes and things heat up and stay warmer for longer periods of time, perhaps there are pathogens -- ones we don't see or that remain dormant or stable when climate is steady or cooler-- that are also worthy of looking at as well. And, I might add... why do vaping devices come off the shelves faster than guns? Really?
4
As the mother of a 15-year old struggling to stop vaping nicotine, I suggest that e-cigarettes and pods be allowed only as a prescription. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. It must be taken off store shelves. Also, it is quite suspect that Juul (which marketed to teens and successfully got millions hooked) only sells pods that contain high amounts of nicotine. It won’t sell the lower nicotine pods which are crucial for anyone trying to “step down” their nicotine intake - a crucial step in weaning off e-cigarettes. The 1.5 pods are sold in Canada but not the United States. Why is that?
36
@LM. We all know, or at least have our strong suspicion: because high dose nicotine is faster and better at getting people addicted. As the tobacco industry knew decades ago: get them hooked young, and you got them for life. Which, of course, was significantly shorter due to smoking-related illnesses.
22
@LM
Nicotine patches and gum used to be by prescription many years ago. For almost two decades now.. they have been over the counter, the same as e-cigs are.
None of the above, nor other tobacco products, can be legally purchased by anyone under the age of 18. How did your 15 year old get their hands on nicotine vape products????? THAT is what you should be focused on as a parent.
Making these things prescription only will not stop teens from becoming addicted (evidence prescription pain killers being within reach of teens from street sellers. It will simply make the use go completely underground.
6
@Chuck I know how my 15-year old bought e-cigarettes and pods. Simply go online and see how easy it is. Online retailers ask “are you 18”? There is no true age verification. They will ship to anyone regardless of age. The real question is how were these companies able to get a highly addictive product with unknown contents on the market without any scrutiny or regulation.
3
So one paragraph has a quote saying they don't have any clue why this is happening and two paragraphs later a quote saying they definitely know it's related to THC. The article clearly states that many of the cases only involved nicotine. So... which part is true, that they still don't have a clue, that it's definitely THC even in cases that don't involve THC? This isn't ideal science writing. This is how false rumors and fear campaigns start.
23
It would be helpful to see comparative harm of other nicotine delivery options like old-fashioned cigarettes. Globally, tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. Those deaths don't seem to get the same press that a couple of hundred vaping injuries does. 8 million dead. Each year.
10
@Ben P: That's true but those complications often happen after years or decades of smoking. Vaping is new. It's alarming how quickly it's causing serious medical issues. And many of the devices and juice is produced in China. I doubt the safety of these products bootleg or not.
15
@Ben P Cigarettes are on the decline and had front page headlines for over a decade.
6
@Ben P
Apples and oranges. You are conflating chronic and acute injuries. There is not yet history enough of vape usage to tease out lung cancer and COPD rates vs old-fashioned cigs.
The vape injuries in the press involve sudden, acute damage due.
12
I’m looking at a product box for a THC cartridge labeled “smart cart—solvent-free distillate”. It’s made in California and has lots of health warnings, but has no propylene glycol or glycerol. Lots of other products, both nicotine and cannabis do have those solvents.
13
@BlueMountainMan. I really doubt that. THC is really not soluble in water, so it has be dissolved in a more hydrophobic liquid, AKA as a solvent.
If the liquid in question was actually pure THC oil, it would be very expensive as even a small vial would be the equivalent of many, many joints. And, even then, getting pure THC into the gas phase (vaporizing it) without a carrier is both difficult and very dangerous, as you would be consuming an inordinate amount of THC with a single puff.
2
@BlueMountainMan
Exactly correct.
There is so much misinformation and misunderstanding in both the comments here and the article regarding THC cartridges. It's very disturbing the amount of nonsense being peddled here.
@Pete in Downtown
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. And rather then let this nonsense go unchallenged... for the benefit of other readers, let me break it down for you.
When you CO2 extract THC from the plant base.. what comes out is a blend of oils from the plant, consisting not just of THC.. but a wide range of terpenes and other natural compounds, many of which act synergistically with THC. the average THX percentage in the final extraction is between 65 and 85%, depending on the particular strain of plant being extracted. All extracted compunds transition to a gas by 315 degrees F, with THC being one of the last.
The key to vaporizing THC and it's co-related compounds from the plant is to have a cartridge with a heat core that is regulated at around 350-375 degrees F. The internal plate of the core that is in contact with the injected oil in the cartridge then begins to boil off and is inhaled with a light draw on the mouthpiece while the temperature controlled heating element is maintained on an on state for the number of seconds you draw an inhale.
Hence, in modern cartridges and extraction methods... no solvents are required. Period, full stop.
The oil that is injected into a cartridge is thick and viscous at room temperature and is typically heated to around 120 degrees F and injected into the cartridge by automate machines that monitor the fill for exact weight of oil dispensed into the cartridge.
2
It’s obvious these people got black market products and paid the price. All the more reason for the THC legalization argument in an effort to regulate the industry. Fake vape cartridges are everywhere. Particularly THC cartridges are a favorite counterfeited item. It makes no sense to not have a Federal Marijuana Law which legalizes it in all 50 states. Then the black market will become relatively obsolete and vaping will be much safer.
31
Wait, DON'T buy unknown chemicals from unknown people and consume them? I'm confused.
28
This is a result of the useless and ongoing War on Drugs. Legal States Such as Washington and Oregon test their THC oils for heavy metals and solvent residue. These illnesses and deaths are on the hands of States that refuse to admit the War on Drugs is over.
39
This is why it is absolutely essential, as a matter of public health, to legalize and closely regularly cannabis. To allow the black market to flourish as it is now is to condemn hundreds, even thousands, of people to dangerous chemicals found in street products.
14
Many physicians feel nicotine is as addictive as heroin. Quitting either can be extremely difficult. Making them illegal creates a market for organized crime, making them legal means that not so bright individuals will become addicted, but at least they can be regulated and taxed to defray the related costs which society incurs through disabled users.
9
If the vaping problem turns out to be adulterated cartridges distributed on the street then that will undercut the hysterical rhetoric from the anti-vaping sky-is-falling crowd who think the survival of the nation is at stake. It's always wiser to wait for the facts before going into panic mode.
19
@Gene - It's also wiser to wait for the facts to declare something safe.
Smoking usually takes decades of use to kill a person. E-cigarettes are relatively new to the market. So how do we know that in 20 years it won't turn out that vaping is just as bad?
1
@PM - You don't know what happens 20 years down the road, nor do you know that about GMO products, or your latest pod laundry detergent. It's thought that the tar in cigarette smoke is the culprit, and e-cigarettes have no tar. I don't smoke but I think too many people are trying to make decisions for others and its none of their business unless vaping causes them to, for example, kill people on the highway. Minors are another matter, but drinking is more of a problem among the young,
Once again WITHOUT PROOF the FDA is focusing on THC/Cannabis and demonizing it while ignoring the far larger protected Nicotine manufacturers whose lobbying groups in DC have an iron grip on Pols, it's just disgusting. The major companies of RJ Reynolds and their ilk have just bid for acquiring JUUL and other vaping companies as well.
25
@Ms. Sofie - Why is it so necessary to protect consenting adults from themselves? In a free society providing the information for people to make informed decisions should be enough. Why do you single out nicotine when driving a car is more dangerous. Is it because you dirve and don't want to give it up?
3
We fail to regulate vices such as drugs, gambling and prostitution. We then express shock when people get mysteriously ill or overdose or contract diseases or assaulted on the street. Repeat cycle.
Seriously, no one said when they lifted Prohibition that it means the govt approves of people drinking. It means it's legal and deserving of regulation to minimize the harm done. Thank you
9
I just tried discussing this article with a coworker; he insisted people recovering from "worse" addictions, such as drugs, need "something;" they "can't give up everything." It will take some time for vaping to be understood as another addiction with serious health consequences.
3
These toxic vaping systems need to be shut down. Why people want to use THC and nicotine for that every day high is very sad. We need to stop giving them free health services if they are abusing themselves on this toxic junk. I smoked cigarettes for a short time but quite in 1976 and am i glad now. This vaping will lead to gateway drugs like heroin etc. Very sad.
3
@D.j.j.k. Ur wrong. Vaping leads people to stop smoking cigarettes. Stop being a big tobacco advocate.
4
All these new products are put out on the market. No one says, gee it’s all chemicals, has it gone through testing like drugs do? No And you allow your children. They can’t eat sugar, peanut butter, but you let them vape. Parents do your jobs. Juul needs to be sued it’s another addiction like Pharma.
1
I’m not sure where the former head of FDA is getting his information. This article doesn’t make that at all clear. Curious the insertion of an opinion that is not really supported by any evidence in a piece about a CDC warning. It sounds like PR for the vaping companies.
4
Here is an issue that needs to be addressed by supporters of vaping for both nicotine and THC. I think we are dealing with a combination of over use of the devices in combination with biological contaminants.
From what I have read, the minimal effective dose for THC, for example, is about 2.5 Milligrams of inhaled THC will give you a buzz. THC vaping devises come with 250, to 500, to 1,000 Milligrams of active compound per devise. That is a lot active ingredients.
The first hypothesis I would look at is excessive use of the inhaler in combination with biological contaminants will create a new biological soup in the lungs that we have not seen before.
Kids need to know that strict hygiene is essential with these drug delivery devices. And, overexposed of the lungs to continuous amounts of these chemicals is an experiment that we have not done before.
I was wondering how long it would take before people began getting sick, and dying, before it became obvious. Whether by smoke or vapor, we are injecting chemicals through our lung membranes. There aren't many things other than oxygen which don't eventually lead to illness with this vector. Why must we be so short sighted? This new market adds another means by which we can addict our kids, especially to nicotine. Bubblegum flavored nicotine...gee, what could go wrong?
We need to address campaign finance reform on this issue as well as many others. Altria, or whatever their name is today, will continue their long standing tradition of getting kids hooked early in life.
6
Yet another effect of not having a regulated market for a generally safe and very popular drug. It's time to end the war on drugs.
30
The Canadian health system has recommended that people use a vaporizer to take medical marijuana, rather than smoking or taking edibles. Canadians have been vaping marijuana buds for many years without any apparent problems.
It seems likely that the health problems are with e-cigarettes or other vaping that uses some type of liquid extract for nicotine and/or THC. I can certainly understand why the CDC would look more closely at street drug forms of these extracts, which may contain some sort of chemical additives or residues.
20
@Bruce
And this is good guidance from Canada health.
The reason being that cartridges vape at lower temperatures then any form of smoking. In fact.... most of the smart batteries the cartridges run on now days allow multiple temperature settings for the user to apply to meet their needs.. with all of the settings being well below oxidation temperatures (which is where toxins are created by breakdown of the oil.
5
@Bruce
Chuck,
You're right that the different temperature settings allow the user good control over what vaporizes. However, many vaporizers vaporize buds without the need for any oil or other liquids. The only thing that vaporizes are the compounds in the herb.
1
Sadly, I sort of miss the smell of cigarettes on city streets (as a non-smoker).
Now I am confronted with sickly sweet vape clouds with “flavors” as unappetizing as strawberry creme brûlée and cinnamon bun sooprize. It’s like walking into a 1980s scratch and sniff factory.
Vaping is an addictive, nasty habit that bootleggers are capitalizing on to make young people more and more dependent on their wares. Soon we will be confronted by a generation of twenty year olds with the lung capacities of octogenarians.
42
I smoked for about 6 years on and off. At most, I'd smoke a pack every 2 to 3 days. But most of the time it would take me about a week to go through a pack.
For the past year, I have been using an e-cig from a popular brand. I used only nicotine pods from the e-cig brand, despite third party pods being more affordable. The day I got the e-cig, I quit smoking cigarettes. In that year span, I think I smoked maybe 2 cigarettes. Using the e-cig, I immediately felt better. My lungs felt better, I was working out and not having any issues with stamina.
Over time though, a few puffs from the e-cig here and there turned into me hitting multiple times an hour. I quickly became more addicted to the e-cig than I ever was with cigarettes. The ease of being able to hit it pretty much anywhere combined with the total lack of smoke smell made it way too easy and accessible.
A few weeks ago, I started to notice my lungs were beginning to feel like they did when I was smoking a pack of cigarettes every other day. Shortness of breath, mild chest pain here and there when I hit the e-cig. Then, I read a story from my local news about vaping related illnesses being reported in Michigan (where I live). That was enough for me. The e-cig is now in the trash.
Whether these reports are a result of people using shady street cartridges, THC, or nicotine, doesn't matter to me. While I quit cigarettes with the help of the e-cig, there is still too much unknown for me to feel comfortable using it.
85
@Jake: Yes. And a lot of the things used in vape juice are FDA approved for eating. But heating those things up and vaping them is a different thing altogether. Vaping just hasn't been around long enough to know the long-term health consequences. And since many of the devices and juice are manufactured oversees, I doubt their is consistency and safety in what's being used.
5
@Jake Stop smoking those worthless pods and buy a tank setup and maybe even make your own juice or at least buy from a reputable vendor. Please stop with the fear mongering. Hundreds of millions worldwide vape without any issues at all and they kicked cigs by doing so. Do you work for big tabbacco?
2
@Anne the liquid for vaping is ALL made in the USA, only the device is made in China.
4
Bathtub gin, back alley abortions and, now, black market THC vaping causing havoc and death. The simplest answer might be the same with all three of these rules that try to regulate personal behavior. Legalize it.
56
@Rick Gage
that's a simplistic answer to a complex problem. Nicotine is legal. All the "vape juice," etc. etc. is unregulated, even if it is bought in a brick and mortar store. So not only would the US have to legalize THC, but they'd have to regulate all vaping products, including those with THC, nicotine, and "plain" (i.e., no nicotine or THC) vaping products.
9
@D Then, "legalize it and regulate it". Don't sit on the files for years holding your nose and pretending it's worse than smoking, banning it in the same places as cigarettes, leaving time for companies to design more potent and addictive versions, confusing the public regarding the health effects of vaping, just because it looks good politically to treat nicotine addicts with disrespect and because the pharmaceutical industry doesn't make millions off of it.
18
@D
Legal and regulated, as it is with tobacco and alcohol which really do kill people, unlike this situation where they don't even know what does it.
6
“Let me give you some advice
Don't eat stuff off the sidewalk
Don't eat stuff off the sidewalk
You don't need it
So don't eat it
No don't eat stuff off the sidewalk
No matter how good it looks
You better go by the book
Leave it there
Don't you dare
Eat stuff off the sidewalk”
13
Why can't we just go the obvious slight step further: don't vape.
20
@richard
Because like so many things that may be of negative impact to health and well being... it IS a personal choice.
Where does your demand stop? What about alcohol? What about prescription drugs with side effects? What about food choices? etc. etc.
I do not disagree with your idealism, rather I understand it is not practical in a divese society.
4
I'm trying to understand the differentiation of "street" nicotine vapor vs the effects of "legal" nicotine as it relates to lung damage.
2
People will use refillable carts and use wonky oils. That's a street cartridge and there is zero way to know what is in it.
1
@Ron B - I am going to bet good money the problem is with the liquid carrier used in the cartridge vs. cannabis/tobacco itself.
I bought a vape pen one night at the cannabis store to get some "hash oil". Well, in my mind hash-oil was old school stuff like I used to make. But what I got was some cartridge of "hash oil" suspended in something that tasted like the carrier oil some folks use for edibles. I took a hit, started choking. Took another hit, thought I was gonna hurl. Tried again the next day, same nauseous feeling so I threw out the cartridge of "hash oil".
This crisis is just the latest example where street-acquired drugs are laced or contaminated with toxins, prepared by incompetent criminals. But I also worry about cannabis vaping cartridges sold in states where it is legal to do so by authorized dispensaries. While they are tested for potency and very limited purity, they are not analyzed for contaminants anywhere near as comprehensively as Rx and OTC drugs. Also, any drug that is delivered by heating or burning the product creates another host of chemicals that can be carcinogenic in the long term or lethal in the short term. We've been way too cavalier about vaping drugs.
4
In California thc products are tested for all Chemicals and metals. In fact the problem is that stuff that is regularly sprayed on agricultural crops wander over to thc crops which then won’t pass the test. That’s why pot production is moving more and more to greenhouses.
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This is just more fear mongering. Legal cannabis vaping products have a more strenuous oversight process than the legal supplement market.
Legalizing cannabis and smartly regulating it is the right answer.
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@Bill Sternberg Wow that's pretty interesting. Can you share any articles on this?
Reminiscent of tainted alcohol during Prohibition, producers not burdened by regulation and inspection of products.
History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
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@W
I agree that until THC becomes legal, we've got a real problem!
For e-cigs, I'd pay a bit more to buy from somewhere like UK that regulates e-cigs for purity and limits nicotine. Maybe stock up on some regulated ones in case the FDA decides to ban them.
Ah, more unrealistic suggestions! When will we learn. If they really want to do something about it, they'll legalize marijuana and marijuana e cigarettes so people don't have to score their drugs on the street. And the advice to consult a doctor for stopping smoking is patently absurd, as e cigarettes allow people to stop smoking who couldn't with conventional techniques. The advice here should be to buy commercial e cigarettes rather than illicit ones.
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@Josh Hill But they can't do that because e-cigs are not FDA-approved cessation products. The deeming rule is supposed to oversee and determine what products should be safe and available on the market and possibly lead to the FDA approving products for cessation but that has been delayed for three years. Until the FDA gets their act together, it's the Wild West for e-cigarette products, while at the same time, providers are continuing to prescribe nicotine replacement therapy products that have less than a 10% cessation rate after a year of using.
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@Josh Hill
while I agree with you in principle.... the street bootleggers undercut the actual regulated and tested product sold in licensed stores.
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@Josh Hill I could only imagine a doctor's response to wanting to quit smoking. "Well...just quit."
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" . . . T.H.C. must be mixed with solvents that dissolve and deliver the drugs."
I doubt it. Solvents may be necessary during production, but I don't think they required for delivery. Cannabis products are strictly regulated in states such as California. So presumably the problems discussed in this article are (yet again) due to an irrational policy of prohibition incentivizing bad actors.
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@Camille, solvents aren't just in street-bought vape cartridges. The store-bought cartridges I've seen have solvents in them, too.
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@Camille There does need to be a solvent for delivery. Vaping cartridges, at least the commercial varieties, use a mixture of propylene glycol and glycerol in different percentages. These compounds serve to dissolve the nicotine (or THC) as well as generate small droplets when heated. Water is not used as its boiling point is too low and nicotine/THC are not sufficiently soluble in water.
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@ChrisH
So misinformed.
Only poorly designed cartridge contents have any adulterants to the THC oil.
In states that have legalized and regulated use of THC.... the suppliers DO NOT adulterate. Why? Because stores require lab test certifications and will not sell adulterated product as it may cause them to lose their license to operate from the state.
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Cannabis and nicotine are very different. One is a deadly poison and the other has no lethal dose. What bothers me about this story is that it suggests that one possibility is people are getting harmed from illegally purchased cannabis vape cartridges. This bothers me because cannabis doesn't need anything that fancy to vaporize or smoke. Pure cannabis extract can be vaporized safely with a heated nail on a bong or even a crack pipe.
So kids, stop buying a weird cartridge, and go back to just buying flowers or BHO.
And smokers, see your doctor about quitting nicotine.
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@Edward Allen
Nicotine is not a deadly poison, in fact being addictive is it’s only major downside. The method through which the body absorbs the nicotine is often the culprit when it comes to disease and chronic illness.
The point people also miss is that nicotine is like any other substance: fine in moderation. The moment you use a vape you do not become instantly addicted and riddled with cancer. If you misuse it, abuse it, and alter it with unknown substances, you shouldn’t be surprised when you see negative consequences.
The thing that always struck me as odd is that alcohol, a liquid that will kill you within hours if used incorrectly, is much more socially acceptable than using nicotine products. I’m all for reducing risk associated with nicotine products, but it does surprise me at how hard we have to fight to do it. Vaping will always be less risky than using cigarettes in terms of what you’re putting into your body, but just like anything else overuse or abuse will cause you harm. It’s not that hard.
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@Edward Allen
....so I task it that you're encouraging kids to risk their health with the use of cannabis.
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@Edward Allen
Think about it though.... street bootleggers are motivated to "cut" the oil to make it go farther and thus make more money on the same amount of THC oil.
By the way.. they can also take extracts and cut them to liquify them enough to make them vapable in a cartridge.
The issue here is the unscrupulous nature of the average street bootlegger.
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We have known for decades that smoking in any form is very hazardous to anyones health. Starting with the forced labeling of warnings on cigarette packages and other safety warnings, the use of nicotine related products have been in steady decline for over 40 years. Now there is a new device that delivers nicotine and who knows what else into the respiratory tract minus the ember and smoke and it is causing similar harmful effects. Thinking people (including young adults) have figured it out on their own and the rest are busy proving Darwinism. Enjoy your vape.
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@Dennis W it is the combustion of tobacco, NOT nicotine that causes disease. The fact that in vaping their is no combustion (fire) is what makes it SO much safer! This is about BLACK MARKET THC...also,vaping products (ecigs) are an adult product over 18 or 21 years of age (like alcohol).
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When was the last time anyone who smokes or vapes was willing to listen to anyone who warns them about health risks? It will not be until people they live are clearly harmed by these things that they will pay attention.
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That doesn’t work- my mother is now living with us, decimated by 40 plus years of smoking and my husband still won’t quit.
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@Casual Observer
Point taken.
My dad died a couple years ago.. due to complications from severe COPD. He was a life long multi-pack a day smoker. Even after diagnosed with COPD and put on significant medications and an oxygen tank to be able to breathe normally...... we STILL CAUGHT HIM SMOKING!!.
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@Casual Observer
Nicotine is said to be more addictive than heroin. Some people, like my mother, just can not quit. I am fortunate that, after 3 failed attempts over the course of 2 years, and some ferocious self-brainwashing, I was able to quit 30 years ago. (I spent the last month of smoking making myself stare at the cigarette and repeat, "This is poison. And you are feeding Big Tobacco.")
Like any addiction, the key seems to be getting past the denial. Some folks just can't make that leap. My journalist mother believed that without a cigarette and cup of coffee, she could not write. And she'd rather be dead than stop writing.
What has happened to the FDA? Where is the "all hands on deck" that SHOULD mean rapid information releases? What EXACTLY are the substances contained in vape cartridges?
Why the sluggish response to a severe health threat? The old Nancy Reagan "we're doing all we can" litany is nonsense. Could tobacco companies be tamping down the FDA's response (or lack thereof)?
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@Slann
You are proposing a ready-fire-aim approach to a limited number of documented cases. This is the Trumpian way, and flys in the face of investigation followed by targeted action.
The proper course of action is ready-aim-fire.. where the aim part consists of analyzing and assessing actual data on the causes of the deaths. That way.. you aim at the cause and then act.. rather then start firing in all directions randomly hoping you hit the culprit.
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What has happened to the FDA? Where is the "all hands on deck" that SHOULD mean rapid information releases? What EXACTLY are the substances contained in vape cartridges?
Why the sluggish response to a severe health threat? The old Nancy Reagan "we're doing all we can" litany is nonsense. Could tobacco companies be tamping down the FDA's response (or lack thereof)?
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@Slann: Republicans have been starving government agencies of adequate operating budgets for years now, even more so under Trump.
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Sage advice.
Anytime some product hits the market, with either price hurdles or access restrictions (like age), bootleggers hit the streets with unlabled, untested product containing who knows what.
I suspect the culprit here is boogleggers formulating with anti-freeze to make the base chemicals easier to vape.
There have been chemically similar compounds to anti-freeze used in the regulated vaping industry for years now.... that are not believed toxic by the FDA, but still not the best idea in terms of adulterants. So it's not a stretch to see bootleggers simply using automobile anti-freeze in their illicit products.
The regulated tobacco vaping industry is very likely not the cause here.. and follows approved formulation requirements.
The regulated Cannabis suppliers, in states where the product is now legal... have quickly moved to CO2 exraction and zero additives before injecting into a cartridge. Rather then diluting for better vapor, this industry has simply adopted better vaping cartridges which will vaporize the pure product with no need for dilutants.
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@Chuck - "The regulated Cannabis suppliers, in states where the product is now legal... have quickly moved to CO2 exraction and zero additives before injecting into a cartridge. Rather then diluting for better vapor, this industry has simply adopted better vaping cartridges which will vaporize the pure product with no need for dilutants."
That is not quite accurate. Your are correct about the extraction method but the only way you can get hash oil to work in a vape cartridge is with some kind of suspender chemical of some kind. So, that cartridge at the cannabis store that says "hash oil" is more than just hash oil. You can taste it with the first hit. Meanwhile, with that same vape pen, you can just skip the cartridge part and put pot directly into the end of it and hit away. But that is not the superconcentrated hash oil that kids seek after these days.
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@Chuck - Why would the regulated vaping industry not be the cause here? The regulated smoking industry is the cause of lung cancer, etc.
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By limiting their caution to "street" liquids the CDC is telling the public that JUUL and other vape corporation's product are "safe." This is not true ad the CEO of JUUL says it is not true.
"Don't vape. Don't use Juul': Juul CEO issues stark warning to nonsmokers as he admits long-term effects of vaping are unknown. https://www.businessinsider.com/juul-ceo-dont-vape-long-term-effects-unknown-2019-8
These product contain pentanedione and other toxic chemicals that have been shown to cause irreversible lung damage called bronchiolitis obliterans.
The CDC has now produced false reassurance of safety.
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@gramsci fan
NO.. what they are saying is bootleg products ARE possibly hazardous, due to who knows what is in the contents.
This article and the CDC guidance makes no statement regarding the health of e-cigarette product produced under compliant process and regulation.
Note: I am not supporting the use of tobacco based e-cigarettes. Nicotine IS a poison.... and as such any amount ingested can be toxic and long term affect overall health and well being.
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@gramsci fan
And to add.. I think you must have completely skipped this guidance by CDC:
In addition, the C.D.C. said: “E-cigarette products should not be used by youth, young adults, pregnant women, as well as adults who do not currently use tobacco products. If you use e-cigarette products, monitor yourself for symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, chest pain) and promptly seek medical attention if you have concerns about your health.”
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@Chuck
This product in my simple mind seemed to have been fast tracked to the marketplace. All of a sudden there were vaping commercial everywhere.
I dont see the difference between cigarettes and this product, both appear to be bad for your health and counterfeit vaping appears to kill you right away.
Just like hard drugs did no one think that counterfeit products would flood the marketplace. How many times do we have to play catch up? how many lives have we lost to a product that should never have been in the marketplace in the first place.
3