GROWTH OF THE CANNABIS VAPING TREND
While drug-infused vapes pose immediate and unpredictable risks, cannabis vaping is also on the rise, under the misconception that it is harmless.
This is a dangerous assumption. Not only is cannabis addictive, but it can also cause memory loss, psychosis and respiratory issues.
Additionally, many cannabis vapes contain additives that pose severe health threats. One of the most notorious is vitamin E acetate, which has been implicated as the primary cause of EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury), a fatal condition that killed 68 people and hospitalised over 2,800 in the US between 2019 and 2020.
Despite these risks, the cannabis vaping trend is proving difficult to curb. The tobacco industry, which has aggressively invested in the vaping market, is now extending its reach into the cannabis market.
For example, in 2023, it was reported that Philip Morris International (PMI), was acquiring Israeli medical cannabis inhaler company Syqe Medical for US$650 million. In January this year, PMI also entered a partnership with Avicanna, a Canadian firm specialising in cannabinoid-based medicine.
Meanwhile, Marlboro-maker Altria Group is the largest shareholder of Canadian medical marijuana company Cronos Group, while British American Tobacco (BAT) has a major stake in Canada-based cannabis producer OrganiGram.
Many of these companies position themselves as specialists in cannabis therapeutics or research. But the tobacco industry’s track record for product safety raises serious doubts about its ability to develop safe cannabis vapes.
Cigarettes are the only legal consumer product that, when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer, kills about half of its users – a staggering figure considering there are an estimated 1.3 billion smokers globally.
