"Potent" Marijuana Now Available in E-Cigarettes, Warns ASH

June 22, 2010 - PRLog -- "Potent" Marijuana Now Available in E-Cigarettes
Devices Used On Planes and Elsewhere Give "Vapor Rush"

To the many dangers the FDA has already reported with e-cigarettes -- deadly and addictive nicotine, carcinogens and other toxic chemicals released into the air, possibly serving as "training wheels" to entice young teens into smoking, and threats to nonusers standing nearby -- add the many problems posed by inhaling at least three different "potent" strains of marijuana as customers are urged to use the product "at the office, or even on the plane," warns Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). http://www.vaporrush.com/

ASH's, in its legal petition to the FDA urging the agency to undertake enforcement action against e-cigarettes -- which it has now begun to do -- ASH noted that at least one manufacturer bragged that the cartridges inserted into the novel product to produce clouds of nicotine (a deadly and addictive drug which can contribute to fatal heart attacks), and propylene glycol (a respiratory irritant used in antifreeze and known to cause respiratory tract infections), also contained Cialis.

Now users getting a kick from nicotine and a boost from Cialis can also get high from "three different varieties [of marijuana]: haze, bliss and rush . . .taken from potent sativa and indica strains of cannabis." The ad for the new product brags: “now I can get high while watching a game, at the office, or even on the plane.” officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=164550

The ad text seemingly invites users not only to violate laws against smoking generally in public places, but also laws against the use of marijuana itself, suggesting that you can now smoke weed in public without attracting attention: "the latest buzz in the pot world: Vapor Rush . . . Vapor Rush is a new way to smoke bud that allows you to smoke anywhere without a lighter, smell, shake, smoke and unwanted attention."

The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] has already warned that e-cigarettes pose "acute health risks," that the "danger posed by the unrestricted distribution of [these] unregulated products containing toxic chemicals cannot seriously be questioned," and that they have caused a wide variety of potentially serious problems "including racing pulse, dizziness, slurred speech, mouth ulcers, heartburn, coughing, diarrhea, and sore throat." The agency ruled they are "illegal."

Now, on top of these dangers, there may be additional ones as users are able to "smoke" marijuana in their workplaces, and in other public places including airplanes surreptitiously (without any smell or smoke as the sellers brag), and where bystanders -- including young children, the elderly, those with a variety of medical problems, and those who do not wish to get even a little bit high -- can be exposed.

E-cigarettes have already been banned in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, and New Zealand, restricted in Finland, Malaysia, and Singapore, pending restriction in the UK as a drug, and the subject of law suits by attorneys general in several states. In part as a result of urging by ASH, New Jersey and Suffolk County, NY, has prohibited their use in no-smoking sections, and New York is also moving to ban them.

"If manufacturers -- or even users, since some fill the e-cigarette cartridges themselves -- are already adding not only nicotine but also Cialis and marijuana, why not heroin, crack, or other even more potent drugs," asks public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of ASH.

"Manufacturers should not be able to foist off on the public, and use both customers and those around them as human guinea pigs, for products containing dangerous drugs which haven't been tested -- much less approved -- by any agency," argues ASH.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law at GWU,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
FELLOW, World Technology Network, and
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
America’s First Antismoking Organization
2013 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // (703) 527-8418
http://ash.org/

# # #

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first anti-smoking and nonsmokers' rights organization, serves as the legal action arm of the anti-smoking community. It is supported by tax-deductible contributions.