Storm of Assurances Heading Your Way

"Although it's going to be critical for us to ensure that we look at all of our input materials and we get specific analysis to make sure there are no additional contaminants in the product, we must remember we are in a highly regulated environment in Canada where consumer safety comes first."
Greg Engel, CEO, Organigram Inc. licensed producer

"Legal extract product will be stringently tested for contaminants like heavy metals and solvents, which is not a process done with black market product."
HEXO Corp., licensed producer

"While the FDA does not have enough data to presently conclude that vitamin E acetate is the cause of the lung injury, the agency believes it is prudent to avoid inhaling this substance."
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

An e-cigarette store, in Wilkesboro, N.C., 2016. George Etheredge/The New York Times

"There is still insufficient information to comment specifically on the media reports coming out of the United States, but we believe that the mix of information underscores how important it is for governments to create regulated frameworks for cannabis vape products. None of Canopy Growth's vape devices will use vitamin E acetate."                                                                                                                      Jordan Sinclair, Canopy Growth Corp.

"I think what we are seeing now is one of the first real debates around the formulation of vape products and whether, even legal products are actually safe for public consumption."
"I think it's still much too early to see the impact of this health scare on consumer demand, but there is an optic of safety in vaping where consumers believe it is a safer option to combustion. That may change."
"Vape pens, both cannabis and nicotine, became popular so quickly and it was hard for governments to say, 'No, we're not going to legalize that', when they were seen as an alternative to cigarettes."
"Because it is such a new product class and because the environment has been evolving so quickly, the adoption rate of these products moved faster than the science did, to help us understand what the different compositions of these vape products could mean for the health of consumers."
John Kagia, executive vice-presdent, industry analytics, New Frontier Data, cannabis research firm

A man uses a vape as he walks on Broadway in New York City.   Reuters/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Just when cannabis vape products are on the cusp of becoming legal in Canada, comes news from the United States of issues no one might ever imagine would eventuate, with lung illnesses presenting at hospitals and diagnoses linking them with vaping. Six people have died, and altogether close to five hundred people in 33 American states have been affected. This is a serious turnaround from the euphoria people experienced with the relaxing of state laws, making marijuana possession legal, and Canada's federal legalization of cannabis.

The mysterious lung condition presenting in the U.S. has completely mystified investigators. What is known is that one of the deaths linked to cannabis oil was purchased in Oregon from a legal pot shop. While no one can definitively point to the exact cause of the development of respiratory problems in hundreds of vapers, the U.S. Food and Drug administration has singled out vitamin E acetate as a culprit. Its use is that of a suspension fluid in cannabis vape pens.

So for producers of vaping devices it seems abundantly clear that vitamin E acetate is not to be used. The use of "vitamins and colouring agents" in vaping products is banned by Health Canada through its Tobacco and Vaping Products Act. Any ingredients in a vape pen besides flavouring agents, according to Health Canada, should reflect pharmaceutical quality. All this, despite that there is no proof as yet that vitamin E acetate is responsible for the adverse health condition flare-ups.

Alexander Mitchell’s lungs had stopped working and he was in intensive care on two different life support systems for about a week — he escaped death, but two others did not. Mitchell Family / Washington Post - supplied

What is certain, however, is that health authorities at the state and federal levels in both countries respectively have seen fit to issue warnings on the effects of nicotine- and cannabis-infused vape devices. That, since 2015 when vaping was first introduced and became a popular trend, it has been embraced by teens, and that truly has the health community concerned; neither nicotine nor the psychoactive ingredient in pot bodes well for the future health of the young, impacting the lungs and the still-developing brain.

Data collection in Canada is in its early stages in determining whether an emerging problem similar to what the United States is experiencing has visited Canada as well. Nor whether the problem has links to the illegal vape pen market. And nor is there any data yet available on the long-term use of vaping pens for either product -- for irrespective of the promises of safety by licensed producers, no reliable longitudinal data exists, suggesting vaping as a safe form of consuming cannabis.

"Sure, many of those who have reported breathing problems might have bought vape devices from the illegal market, and you really don't know what goes into them, but at the same time you just don't know the long-term effects of vaping cannabis consistently. If the industry is saying it is safe, they actually don't know that themselves", pointed out Jacob Borodovsky, epidemiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St.Louis.

Since November enforcement action has been taken against some 130 students in regards to vaping on school grounds. These are just some of the vapes and vape products confiscated by schools and turned over to By-law. Postmedia

The situation can also be useful to the legitimate industry in cautioning consumers that the only way to be absolutely safe is to purchase products solely from legal sources. This has presented licensed producers with the opportunity to tout the safety and reliability of their highly regulated products as a safe choice for anyone concerned with avoiding the possibility of unknowingly compromising their health by frequenting the illegal market.

"I think it's too early for us to comment on whether this concern over vaping is going to affect sales. But I can tell you that for us, the biggest priority is to ensure safe, consistent access for the consumer and you will get that from the legal market."
"Vapes are becoming the preferred method of consumption, and it would be disingenuous of us to do anything except fully understand the regulations and try to abide by them."
Tim Pellerin, general manager, PAX Labs for Canada

In this Aug. 28, 2019 photo a man exhales while smoking an e-cigarette in Portland, Maine. Health Canada says people who vape should get medical attention right away if they're worried their electronic cigarettes are harming them. Robert F. Bukaty / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS