Colorado is once again at the forefront of drug policy in America.
Since an explosion of deadly vape-related illness across the country this summer, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has explicitly advised people to stop vaping products that contain THC oil, which has been tied to many—but not all—cases. Because a definitive cause has not been isolated, the agency has also warned that the best way to prevent yourself from getting sick is to cease vaping entirely. Accordingly, and also in response to the dramatic uptick in teen vapers in recent years, several states have raced to ban some vapes completely—a move that's unlikely to result in safer nicotine consumption. Colorado, meanwhile, is poised to respond to the panic with deliberate caution, not a flash of frenzy.
As the Denver Post reported, the Marijuana Enforcement Division in Colorado is very close to restricting certain additives in cannabis vaping products, including polyethylene glycol (PEG), vitamin E acetate, and medium chain triglycerides or MCT oil. (Vitamin E acetate, in particular, has been repeatedly connected to the illness outbreak.) Because THC oil is often too thick to vaporize on its own, these ingredients are used by manufacturers to thin out the substance. But they might also be creating unintended carcinogens when heated—and could be causing, or at least contributing, to the spike of illnesses.
"The risks of cigarettes are very clear," said Jonathan Loiterman, a former product liability defense attorney who founded Green Star Growing, an Oregon-based cannabis company that he said staunchly avoids putting additives in its offerings. "Now people are informed of those risks and constrained by regulations, but they can still choose to smoke. My point is: We need to know what's in our cannabis products, and we need to be clear what's in our products. We need to get the information out there."