{"id":2448733,"date":"2019-09-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=312861"},"modified":"2019-09-16T07:48:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T13:48:55","slug":"marijuana-industry-addresses-vaping-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/marijuana-industry-addresses-vaping-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana industry addresses vaping backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A rash of vaping-related respiratory illnesses prompted the marijuana industry to give a closer look at what chemicals are being used in THC vaping devices.<\/strong>
Getty Images\/iStockphoto | iStockphoto<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The once high-riding vaping industry now finds itself in crisis mode after reports of severe lung diseases linked to both nicotine and cannabis consumption.<\/p>\n

Punctuating the bad publicity was last week\u2019s announcement that the Trump administration \u2014 following in the footsteps of Aspen City Council<\/a> and other municipalities \u2014 is looking to ban sales of flavored e-cigarettes.<\/p>\n

In June, Aspen city leaders took the ban a step further, outlawing the sales of flavored nicotine products including cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes and vape pens. The majority of council supported the ban out of concern that Aspen-area youth are drawn to flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products and are becoming addicted. The law takes effect Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

Concerns have now reached the federal level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out to how to regulate it and we\u2019ve got to do it quickly, because there\u2019s a whole generation of Coloradoans and kids all over America that are being told that this is somehow safe, and are getting addicted to this nicotine,\u201d Sen. Michael Bennet, also a presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, said at a town hall meeting<\/a> in Aspen on Aug. 30.<\/p>\n

The potential federal ban of flavored nicotine vaporizers, along with the city\u2019s broader one, doesn\u2019t apply to the legal marijuana trade, but the industry is watching. Aspen has seven dispensaries that sell recreational cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, we don\u2019t know what this effect will be,\u201d said Alex Levine, one of the owners of the Colorado-based Green Dragon pot shop chain, which has a shop in downtown Aspen. \u201cIf they ban flavored e-cigarettes, we don\u2019t know how that will affect the cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicating the matter is that marijuana is illegal under the federal system, he said.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 6, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 450 cases of vaping-related illnesses were spread across 33 states, but Thursday it dropped that number to 380 cases in 36 states \u2014 including the U.S. Virgin Islands \u2014 after it changed its definition of the cases to those that are confirmed or probable.<\/p>\n

Aspen Valley Hospital has no reported cases of patients with respiratory illnesses related to vaping, either THC or nicotine, according to Jennifer Slaugher, the hospital\u2019s director of community relations.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, six deaths have been reported so far, including one case in Oregon where a person died in July and had reportedly used a vaporizer containing cannabis acquired from a legal marijuana dispensary.<\/p>\n

The FDA has said a potential common link \u2014 though the definitive cause is yet to be known \u2014 in the related illnesses is vitamin E acetate, a chemical also found in some of the oil used in marijuana vapes and used frequently on the black market.<\/p>\n

Levine said marijuana vape oil sold by Green Dragon, which uses in-house products for vape products and also works with wholesalers, doesn\u2019t have that chemical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of compounds that are not good for you, like vitamin E acetate, we use none of those products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Boulder-based Rm3 Labs is voluntarily taking measures to test for vitamin E acetate in cannabis oils, said company founder Ian Barringer. Rm3 is a state-licensed cannabis testing facility and laboratory.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point basically we\u2019ve not received any guidance from the federal level or state level on how to proceed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But reports of vitamin E acetate \u2014 a cutting agent \u2014 being the potential culprit for the health ailments prompted the lab, which has some 300 clients, to start its own testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve pretty much taken upon ourselves,\u201d Barringer said. \u201cWe have a number of clients that like to be ahead of the curve on quality control and consumer protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Products testing positive for the chemical will be shelved, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will get locked up in the state inventory and (the makers) can purge it and send it back to retest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cFrankly I don\u2019t know if any manufacturers (in Colorado) include vitamine E in their products. These companies have to stand behind their products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levine said the headlines about the ills of vaping haven\u2019t meant a drop in sales of vaping products, but an increase in customer concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consumers are coming in with all of these questions, now that they\u2019ve heard of this issue, and they don\u2019t understand,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re making a serious effort to educate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rash of vaping-related respiratory illnesses prompted the marijuana industry to give a closer look at what chemicals are being used in THC vaping devices.Getty Images\/iStockphoto | iStockphoto The once high-riding vaping industry now finds itself in crisis mode after reports of severe lung diseases linked to both nicotine and cannabis consumption. Punctuating the bad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 18:36:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2448768,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448733\/revisions\/2448768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}