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Tag: vaping deaths

  • Marijuana Vaping Busts Skyrocket

    Marijuana Vaping Busts Skyrocket

    Over the past two years more than 510,000 marijuana vaping cartridges have been seized by authorities across the nation.

    The recent wave of vaping illnesses and deaths has pushed authorities to crack down on illegal vaping cartridges, cranking the number of seizures of illegal marijuana vaping products through the roof in 2019.  

    According to the Associated Press, over the past two years more than 510,000 marijuana vaping cartridges have been seized by authorities across the nation. More than 120 people have been arrested in connection with the products. 

    Big Busts In 2019

    In November a 30-year-old Minnesota man was caught speeding in Nebraska and police wound up searching his vehicle after “detecting the presence of a controlled substance.” Inside the vehicle, they found 386 containers of THC wax, 144 packages of THC shatter, 62 THC vape cartridges, 39 containers of THC edibles and liquid products, and four pounds of marijuana. 

    Nealry 1,000 pounds of marijuana and 2,000 vaping cartridges were seized during a routine traffic stop in North Texas in late November. The drugs were on their way to North Carolina. 

    In October, a tip from a concerned anonymous source, led Wisconsin authorities seize more than 10,000 vaping cartridges, 18 pounds of marijuana and $950k. 

    North Phoenix authorities had their own massive bust in September when they were able to seize $380,000 worth of drugs including THC vaping cartridges while serving a warrant. 

    Daniel Ray Hawkins and Benjamin Blake Lumpkin were arrested in North Carolina. They stand accused of running a DMT lab (DMT AKA dimethyltryptamin is a powerful hallucinogenic drug) and putting DMT into marijuana vape pens. The DMT found inside the house was worth an estimated $4 million. 

    “The solution to decreasing the risk associated with THC vapor products lies in continuing towards a legalized and regulated market, not increased criminalization and arrests,” said NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri.

    Vaping Illnesses

    While busts appear to be ramping up as vaping illnesses and deaths continue to rise on a daily basis. As of November 21, the CDC’s Latest Outbreak Information for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injuries (EVALI) reports that there are now 2,290 cases of EVALI and 47 deaths linked to the illness. Alaska, which was the only state unaffected by vaping illnesses, reported their first case on Tuesday. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Doctors Use "TikTok" To Teach Teens About Vaping Dangers

    Doctors Use "TikTok" To Teach Teens About Vaping Dangers

    Medical officials are harnessing the power of social media to talk to teens about important health issues and to dispel medical myths.

    Figuring out a way to reach teens has been an ongoing issue for medical professionals, teachers and parents for decades. But now, a handful of doctors have found a very modern solution to raising awareness and educating teens and it’s a popular app called TikTok.

    What Is TikTok?

    The app, which Slate describes as a “social network for amateur music videos,” allows users to express themselves in 15-second clips that they can then upload for their followers to see.

    Dr. Rose Marie Leslie uses the app to inform teens about the health impact of e-cigarettes and other medical misinformation. For Dr. Leslie, it’s important to dispel harmful health myths which are becoming more widespread thanks to the Internet. 

    “I may not be the perfect health guru on social media,” Dr. Leslie told CNBC. “I don’t meditate or do yoga, I rarely get enough sleep, I’m not vegan and I don’t post inspirational quotes. But let me tell you, I have never and will never try to convince you that drinking celery juice cures cancer.”

    Dr. Leslie, who can be found on the app under @DrLeslie, practices family medicine at the University of Minnesota. Her TikTok videos have put a spotlight on vaping illnesses, birth control and she even busts medical myths for her 300,000 TikTok followers.

    Dr. Leslie is happy that her videos are making a positive impacts on teens’ lives. She regularly receives letters, emails and comments from teens thanking her for helping them understand the issues. She also receives a number of medical questions that some teens are afraid to ask the adults in their lives. 

    The Power Of Social Media

    Dr. Austin Chiang is also a big believer in the power of social media. He uses Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to help young doctors and to educate the public on how vaccines work. 

    Public health experts see the use of social media in medicine as an overall positive thing. 

    “I’ve heard the criticism that doctors and other medical professionals on social media are somehow less credible, or won’t be taken as seriously by their peers,” said Sherry Pagoto, a behavioral scientist and professor at the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut. “But I think that school of thought is going to be a thing of the past.”

    Pagoto added that “it would be great for public health organizations to follow the lead of these medical professionals on TikTok.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • American Medical Association Calls For Ban On Vaping Products, E-Cigs

    American Medical Association Calls For Ban On Vaping Products, E-Cigs

    The AMA’s full-court press on vaping comes as a wave of illnesses continue to afflict vape users across the country.

    The American Medical Association has gone on the record against vaping and are calling for a total ban of all vaping products and e-cigarettes that are unapproved by the FDA to be used as “cessation tools.”

    On Monday, the organization published a press release announcing the call for a ban as well as new vaping-related policies.

    The new policies include:

    • Urgently advocate for regulatory, legislative, and/or legal action at the federal and/or state levels to ban the sale and distribution of all e-cigarette and vaping products, with the exception of those approved by the FDA for tobacco cessation purposes and made available by prescription only;
    • Advocate for research funding to study the safety and effectiveness of e-cigarette and vaping products for tobacco cessation purposes;
    • Call for immediate and thorough study of the use of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment strategies for tobacco use disorder and nicotine dependence resulting from the use of non-combustible and combustible tobacco products in populations under the age of 18;
    • Actively collaborate with health care professionals, particularly pharmacists and other health care team members, to persuade retail pharmacies to immediately cease sales of tobacco products;
    • Advocate for diagnostic codes for e-cigarette and vaping associated illnesses, including pulmonary toxicity.

    “The recent lung illness outbreak has alarmed physicians and the broader public health community and shined a light on the fact that we have very little evidence about the short- and long-term health consequences of e-cigarettes and vaping products,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A. “It’s simple – we must keep nicotine products out of the hands of young people and that’s why we are calling for an immediate ban on all e-cigarette and vaping products from the market. With the number of young people using e-cigarettes spiking it is not only critical that there is research into nicotine addiction treatments for this population, but it is imperative that we continue efforts to prevent youth from ever using nicotine.”

    The AMA’s full-court press on vaping comes as a wave of illnesses continue to afflict vape users across the country. The CDC announced in early November that vitamine e oil acetate has been found in a high number of  e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) cases. 

    Here is the CDC’s Latest Outbreak Information on vaping-related illnesses and deaths:

    • As of November 13, 2019, 2,172* cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) have been reported to CDC from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands).
    • Forty-two deaths have been confirmed in 24 states and the District of Columbia (as of November 13, 2019):
    • Alabama, California (4), Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia (3), Illinois (4), Indiana (4), Kansas (2), Massachusetts (2), Michigan, Minnesota (3), Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon (2), Pennsylvania, Tennessee (2), Texas, Utah, and Virginia
    • The median age of deceased patients was 52 years and ranged from 17 to 75 years (as of November 13, 2019).
    • CDC continues to work closely with FDA, states, public health partners, and clinicians on this investigation. 

    Youth Vaping Epidemic

    There is another vaping-related epidemic wreaking havoc across the country and it is affecting teens and adolescents at worrisome rates. Around 2.1 million adolescents were using e-cigarettes in 2017 alone. E-cigarette company Juul has been accused of creating the youth vaping epidemic by deceptively marketing their products to underage individuals. Juul denies these allegations.

    Government officials have reportedly been meeting behind the scenes to discuss new regulations, potential bans on vaping products, specifically flavored ones. This week Trump is set to meet with the vaping industry executives and public health advocates as he decides whether or not to ban flavoring products. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • CDC May Have Found Possible Cause Of Deadly Vaping Illness

    CDC May Have Found Possible Cause Of Deadly Vaping Illness

    Many believe that the product featuring the deadly thickening agent are only from counterfeit seller and wouldn’t be found in a legal dispensary.

    It’s been a few months since the Illinois Department of Public Health reported the first death from vaping-related causes and now the CDC is reporting that it may have found one of the potential causes of the mysterious illnesses and deaths: Vitamin E acetate.

    In an update posted on Friday November 8th, the CDC reported:

    Recent CDC laboratory testing of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples (or samples of fluid collected from the lungs) from 29 patients with EVALI submitted to CDC from 10 states found vitamin E acetate in all of the BAL fluid samples. Vitamin E acetate is used as an additive in the production of e-cigarette, or vaping, products. This is the first time that we have detected a potential chemical of concern in biologic samples from patients with these lung injuries.

    As of November 5th, there have been 39 deaths and 2,051 reported cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI). Health officials believe it is possible that there are other causes and their focus is now on getting confirmation that it is causing the illnesses.

    Leafly detailed the various uses of Vitamin E acetate, most of which are topical, and spoke to medical experts about its potential toxicity.

    You Shouldn’t Be Inhaling Vitamin E Acetate

    “Just the lack of toxicity data for inhaled Vitamin E acetate should raise red flags,” said Dr. Sven-Eric Jordt of Duke University School of Medicine.

    “No vitamin E should be vaped regardless of its chemical structure,” said Eliana Golberstein Rubashkyn, a pharmaceutical chemist.

    Many believe that the product causing the illnesses are counterfeit and wouldn’t be found in your local dispensary. Dumas de Rauly, chair of the ISO Committee on Vaping Standards and CEN Vaping Standards Committee who also runs a vaporizer company, minced no words when discussing the inhalation of Vitamin E acetate and where he thinks the tainted vapes are coming from.

    “In no case is this a product that you should be inhaling,” de Rauly told Marijuana Business Daily. “When you add products like vitamin E … when you add different kinds of lipid solvents to the mix, you’re making all of that oil stickier, and that stickiness is going to create these lung illnesses we’re seeing.”

    Cracking Down On Black Market Product

    de Rauly maintains that the vape oil made with Vitamin E acetate is from the black market.

    “All of the patients are saying they bought it off the street. They didn’t buy it in legal, regulated environments,” Dumas de Rauly said.“This is just basic math. … We have substantial data that shows that these products and these vaping illnesses come from the black market.”

    Dispensary owners are warning customers about buying unregulated vape oils off the street.

    “We inform all of our customers to steer clear from the black market completely and trust the licensed, reputable facilities that are springing up all over now,” a dispensary manager told Fox17. 

    Will there be a crackdown on the vaping black market? Michael Elias, the CEO of Marshall-based Michigan Pure Med, sure hopes so.

    “There have been more than 2,000 vaping-related lung injuries and more than three dozen deaths because of harmful cutting-agents found in illicit vape products, and this is unacceptable, which is why we need stronger enforcement of the illicit cannabis market.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vaping Deaths Reach New High; Officials Still In The Dark

    Vaping Deaths Reach New High; Officials Still In The Dark

    Two more deaths and 163 new cases of vaping-related lung illnesses were reported this week.

    On Thursday, November 7, the CDC released the Latest Outbreak Information report for vaping-related illnesses and fatalities and the news was grim.

    With an additional 163 new cases reported this week, there are now 2,051 cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) in the US. California, Texas and Illinois have the highest number of reported cases while Alaska is the only state without a single reported case. 

    Vaping Deaths Rise Again

    The CDC update also revealed that there have been 39 EVALI deaths—up from 37 deaths last week. The average age of the deceased was 53 and ranged from 17 to 75.

    Officials remain unsure of the exact cause of EVALI though they speculate there may be multiple factors involved. 

    “The only commonality among all cases is that patients report the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products,” the CDC noted. “No one compound or ingredient has emerged as the cause of these illnesses to date; and it may be that there is more than one cause of this outbreak. Many different substances and product sources are still under investigation.”

    Statewide Bans

    A number of states have taken action against vaping in 2019. In September, Massachusetts issued a temporary ban against the sale of vaping products in a bid to stave off mounting cases of EVALI. The ban is set to last for four months but due to a recent ruling by a Superior Court Judge, the state will not be able to prohibit medical marijuana users from vaping THC, according to NPR.

    Vaping has also been in the spotlight due to its rise in underage users. Teen vaping has become a public health issue as e-cig companies like Juul have been hit hard by allegations that they’re marketing their flavored products to underage consumers.

    The Trump administration is reportedly finalizing plans to ban the sale of flavored vape products with the exception of mint and tobacco-flavors. Mint, according to a new study by the National Institutes on Health, is a favorite flavor among underage vapers. 

    “These findings underscore why the Trump Administration must stand strong and implement its plan to clear the market of all flavored e-cigarettes,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • San Diego Cracks Down On Marijuana Extraction Labs, Vaping

    San Diego Cracks Down On Marijuana Extraction Labs, Vaping

    “It’s a public health crisis,” says the local DEA.

    Nearly 1,900 people across the country have been affected by mysterious vaping-related illnesses. In San Diego alone, 31 people have been hospitalized for vaping-related illnesses in the past couple months prompting local law enforcement to publicly speak out against THC vaping products. 

    “It’s a public health crisis,” Colin Ruane, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, DEA San Diego Division, said during a press conference last Friday. “We’re trying to get on top of it.”

    Raiding Illegal Labs

    According to the San Diego Tribune, the DEA has spent the past year raiding 30 marijuana extraction labs that were operating out of homes and warehouses in the area. Over a six-week period starting in early May, officials raided seven highly profitable (explosion prone) labs.

    “We know there is no regulation of the production of the cartridges, there is no quality control and they may be filled with contaminates people don’t know about,” Ruane said.

    NBC7 spoke with a local dispensary owner to get their perspective on product safety.

    Breton Peace, who co-owns the Mission Hills-based cannabis boutique March and Ash, stood behind his boutique’s products.

    “Anything we put on our shelves, we feel, is safe. Now, to say that there is no risk is just false and that’s not doing a service to the community, or your customers or your business in the long term,” he said.

    Peace says that sales of vape products have dropped by 20% since news of the vaping-related illnesses and deaths broke a couple months ago.

    Another dispensary owner believes that the blame should be cast on black market THC vapes, not all vapes. “The CDC has said to people not to vape. But that doesn’t take into account that this … is a black market THC problem,” Division Vaper owner Paul Bates told OPB back in September. “And attempting to bootstrap into a negative opinion of e-cigarettes, seems a bit dishonest to me.” 

    Flavored Vape Ban Coming Soon

    Every Thursday the CDC releases the latest outbreak information surrounding the vaping health crisis. As of October 29, there have been 1,888 reported cases of what the CDC is referring to as EVALI, or e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. There have been 37 reported deaths linked to vaping across 24 states. The FDA and the CDC remain unsure of the root cause of the vaping-related illnesses and deaths.

    Axios reports that the Trump administration is expected to announce its plans to ban all flavored vape products except menthol and tobacco this week. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Could Federal Legalization Solve The THC Vaping Illness Outbreak?

    Could Federal Legalization Solve The THC Vaping Illness Outbreak?

    Experts are starting to think that legalization may be the only way to find out the cause of the illnesses once and for all.

    Experts are increasingly looking toward federal decriminalization as a solution to the outbreak of severe lung illness and death across the U.S., according to a report by Vox.

    Close to 1,500 people have become ill and at least 33 have died from the mysterious illness, which began to suddenly crop up in March. As researchers look into the source of the problem, evidence has begun arising that most of these cases involve illicit, black market THC oil cartridges.

    Both national and statewide data have consistently shown that a strong majority of the patients of this lung illness had recently used a THC vaping product. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 78% of the reporting patients had used these products in the past while 92% of individuals from a similar survey in Utah had done so before getting sick.

    Because the THC vape market has largely shifted from relying on dried flower to oils, most of the patients who had vaped cannabis had done so with the oil form of the substance. 

    From Dried Herb To Processed Oils

    “What’s changed is that people used to vape dried herb and now you have more vaping of pre-processed manufactured oils, which involve different ingredients,” said University of Waterloo in Ontario public health researcher David Hammond.

    At the same time, data is showing that the majority of these products were obtained outside of legal sale. Most of them were “acquired from informal sources such as friends or illicit in-person and online dealers,” according to the CDC, and a New York Department of Health study found that the “vast majority” of their lung illness cases could be traced back to black market cartridges.

    Regulators Need To Catch Up

    THC products are often being developed faster than regulations can keep up with them, and authorities are having a hard time getting a handle on the black market that is likely responsible for the lung illnesses that have sickened so many.

    “Federal agencies exert little oversight, and regulation is left to a patchwork of inadequate state agencies,” said former FDA commissioner FDA Scott Gottlieb for the Wall Street Journal. “The weak state bodies sanction the adoption of unsafe practices such as vaping concentrates, while allowing an illegal market in cannabis to flourish.”

    With all this information coming together, experts are beginning to conclude that the most effective and reasonable path remaining is full federal cannabis legalization.

    “What federal legalization would do is allow for a more uniform and predictable and clear set of rules that would draw on the experience and expertise of the federal agencies in regulating consumer markets,” said Northwestern University professor Leo Beletsky.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Why's It Easier To Buy Marijuana Vape Pens Than To Research Them?

    Why's It Easier To Buy Marijuana Vape Pens Than To Research Them?

    “I can buy a vape device around the corner, but I can’t bring it into the lab and test it.”

    About one-third of the legal cannabis industry is based on vape products—but as more and more consumers began to vape cannabis, rather than smoke it, experts were unable to study the health effects because of federal bans on studying marijuana.

    “It’s disgraceful,” University of California, San Francisco professor and researcher Dr. Neal Benowitz told The New York Times. “I’m not able to take products we think are potentially harmful and do analysis. I can buy a vape device around the corner, but I can’t bring it into the lab and test it.”

    He Tried To Warn Congress

    Benowitz, a professor of medicine, studies vaping. This summer, before reports of widespread vaping-related became prevalent, Benowitz wrote to Congress expressing his concern about cannabis vapes. 

    “Very little is known about the safety or effects of vaped cannabis oil,” he wrote. He continued, warning that ingredients in the oils “could have harmful, toxic effect on users, including the potential for causing and/or promoting cancer and lung disease.”

    Vaping-related illnesses have killed 33 people around the country. 

    Even those who are in favor of vaping cannabis recognize that there are many unknowns about vapes. As president of the board of the United Cannabis Business Association, Jerred Kiloh represents 165 California dispensaries, including those that sell legal cannabis vape products. 

    “There’s a glaring gap in trying to understand this product,” Kiloh said. 

    Black Market Weed Vape Pens Are An Open Secret

    Kiloh pointed out that regulated vape pens cost about $55, but people can buy a black market pen with a comparable amount of THC for as little as $25. Investigators say that most of the vaping injury victims have used black market pens. The federal government has warned that people should stop using THC vape products.

    “We don’t know what the chemical composition is, and we especially don’t know what the chemical composition is once it’s been combined, heated and inhaled,” Kiloh said.  

    Users Discuss Why They’ll Continue To Vape

    Despite the risk, some people, like Cynthia Valdivia, 34, are still using vape pens. “There’s someone behind the brand and they don’t want to kill people. They want their money.”

    Another customer, who is 35, said that he prefers vaping because they are inconspicuous. “You could vape in a police station and no one would even know, not that you’d want to do that.” 

    Former FDA tobacco official Eric N. Lindblom said that for a long time there was no interest in regulating the vaping industry. Now, there is.

    “Only now that we have this special, extra weird mystery crisis with the disease and deaths is there now interest in doing something.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • There’s More Than One Vape Crisis To Solve

    There’s More Than One Vape Crisis To Solve

    “I see it as three trains on three parallel train tracks,” says one medical expert.

    While the nation is focused on finding a solution to the vaping health emergency, one health professional says that we need to focus on addressing three separate vaping-related issues, rather than lumping them together into one problem. 

    “I see it as three trains on three parallel train tracks,” lung medical oncologist Dr. Peter Shields told Rolling Stone. “One of the trains is what’s going on right now, with these people getting really sick, really fast. The second train is the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes or THC cigarettes… and the third train is kids and flavors.”

    Shields, the deputy director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said that it’s yet unclear how the problems relate to each other, and whether they intersect. 

    He said, “We know almost nothing about this right now,” including, “where these train tracks merge.”

    Vaping-Related Illness

    In regards to what’s causing the vaping crisis, there is come consensus that vitamin E acetate is at least in part to blame. Although vitamin E acetate is harmless in most circumstances, it can be poison in the lungs. The substance has been found in many of the cartridges used by people with vape-related illness.  

    However, vitamin E can’t be the only explanation, since it’s not present in all cases. In addition, most cases have involved people who vape THC, but 22% of cases do not involve THC products. 

    Other reports indicated that the damage to vape-users’ lungs resembles chemical burns, not damage caused by vitamin E acetate. 

    Long-Term Effects Of E-Cig Use

    Shields said that all of this is complicated by the fact that e-cigarettes have not been around very long, and it could take decades to truly understand their harms.

    “With smoking-related diseases, you don’t know the effects til 20 years or more. So we won’t know the effects of e-cigarettes for 20 years or more,” he said. 

    Vapes have been praised as a safer way for adult smokers to indulge. However, Shields cautioned, “safer is different than safe.”

    Alex Clark, CEO of the lobbying group Consumer Advocates for a Smoke-Free Alternatives Association, said that he expects some people will return to traditional cigarette use, because they are concerned about the safety of vapes. Many others will keep vaping, he said. 

    “These products have helped millions of people quit smoking and that alone is enough to preserve them [on the market],” said Clark.

    Even with all the mystery around vaping, Shields said that bans on the products are a knee-jerk reaction. 

    He said, “So many people think ‘Oh, with this lung toxicity we should ban e-cigs.’ But we’re mixing issues because we don’t even have all the science yet.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vaping-Related Fatalities Rise To 23 With Death Of Bronx Teen

    Vaping-Related Fatalities Rise To 23 With Death Of Bronx Teen

    The 17-year-old New Yorker is the youngest person in the country to fall victim to a vaping-related illness.

    A Bronx teenager has become the youngest victim to die of a vaping-related illness. The 17-year-old boy’s death marked the 23rd vaping-related death in the country, and the first in New York state.

    The boy died on Friday after being hospitalized twice in September for the illness, the New York Times reported.

    No End In Sight

    Across the U.S., about 1,100 vaping-related lung injuries have been reported, with the outbreak “continuing at a brisk pace,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC.

    New York’s health department has received 110 reports of severe lung illness in patients aged 14-69 who had used at least one vape product before falling ill as of Tuesday (Oct. 8). 

    Governor Andrew Cuomo warned families to be wary of the products. “Parents have to know; young people have to know. You are playing with your life when you play with this stuff.”

    New Jersey’s First Vaping-Related Death

    Last week, New Jersey also reported the state’s first vaping-related death, an adult woman from north Jersey.

    The FDA recently urged the public to stop using vape products that contain THC or any vape product obtained illegally. So far, investigators say that black market vape products that contain THC appear to be a common denominator in the outbreak.

    They may be on to something. A recent lab analysis commissioned by NBC News revealed that legal THC vape cartridges were found to contain no heavy metals, pesticides or solvents like vitamin E. But the majority of black market THC vape cartridges did contain vitamin E and myclobutanil, a fungicide that becomes hydrogen cyanide when burned.

    Recent busts have shed light on the lucrative business of producing and selling counterfeit THC vape products.

    A Wisconsin woman was arrested in late September for allegedly helping run her sons’ THC vape cartridge operation, which involved purchasing empty vape cartridges and colorful packaging on the internet and filling the cartridges with THC oil using syringes.

    Authorities seized nearly 130,000 cartridges that were either empty or contained THC oil between the family’s home in Paddock Lake, Wisconsin and a condominium in nearby Bristol.

    View the original article at thefix.com