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'Just smoke': Why one Bay Area doctor says you should never use pot vapes
FILE: Marijuana vape pen cartridge with radiant rainbow lighting and dark background.Drew Beynon/Getty Images
By Lester Black,Cannabis editorSep 12, 2024
Dr. Laurie Vollen has been encouraging people to use cannabis for decades, recommending thousands of her patients smoke marijuana to treat a wide range of conditions. But the Berkeley medical doctor has a simple message when someone asks her if they should use cannabis vape cartridges: Don’t do it.
Vollen has been critical of cannabis vapes for years, pointing to evidence that the cartridges can expose users to heavy metals and have never been evaluated for long-term health effects. Her concern increased this year after a pesticide scandal swept through the cannabis industry, with many vape cartridges sold in California’s legal stores testing positive for pesticides.
“You’re just getting an increased exposure to another toxin,” Vollen said. “It’s one more piece of evidence that people should not be vaping.”
Consumers clearly enjoy the products: California sold nearly $100 million worth of vape pens last month, and vapes far outsell pre-rolled joints and edibles, according to cannabis data company Headset. With modern convenience, however, comes a new set of concerns compared with the traditional process of smoking cannabis flower out of glass pipes or rolled into joints.
FILE: A man exhales smoke while legally smoking weed with a vape pen in Washington state.
Tegra Stone Nuess/Getty Images
To start, the cannabis cartridge and battery itself could potentially be toxic to users. A 2021 study that tested legal vape cartridges purchased in Washington state found that heavy metals can leach from vape cartridge components into the vapor that is inhaled from the end of the vaporizer, exposing users directly to potentially toxic heavy metals.
There are also concerns about the cannabis oil inside vaping cartridges. Cannabis oil is extracted from cannabis flower to produce an oily substance that can be over 90% percent THC by weight, far higher than the average 20% THC potency found in dried cannabis flower.
These extractions don’t only concentrate THC. They can also increase how much contamination ends up in the final cannabis oil, because the process required to turn flower into oil removes plant matter without necessarily removing contaminants. That means cannabis flower that has a relatively low amount of pesticide contamination can become cannabis oil with concerning levels of contamination, with those pesticides becoming a larger portion of the overall product.
California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), the state agency in charge of regulating California’s legal weed industry, told SFGATE that it considers vape cartridges to be “high-risk products” for pesticide contamination. California’s own recall history appears to demonstrate the risks associated with cannabis oils: All 11 pesticide recalls issued this year by the state of California contained concentrated cannabis oil, and nine of the recalls were of vape products.
Historically, contaminated cannabis oil was primarily a concern in the illicit market, whose products face no safety checks and are illegally sold outside of permitted retailers. Most notably, contaminated cannabis vape cartridges that were primarily sold on the illicit market killed dozens of people in 2019 and 2020 and hospitalized thousands more.
However, there’s now growing concern that even legal vape pens could be dangerous.
First, an SFGATE investigation published in February found that cannabis vape cartridges sold at legal stores contained a banned pesticide. More concerning, the vape cartridge in question was still being sold at the store after the DCC had placed a preliminary recall on the product — information that is not available to the public — and banned its sale, evidence that the DCC was unable to pull products it had deemed dangerous from shelves in a timely manner.
In response to SFGATE questions, the DCC admitted in February that the state’s own labs were unable to perform the state-mandated pesticide tests for legal products. David Hafner, a DCC spokesperson, said in February that the agency would be able to test all products “shortly,” but the agency confirmed to SFGATE last month that it still lacked the ability to test for all pesticides.
Glynnis Vaughan, a spokesperson for the agency, told SFGATE in an emailed statement in August that the agency is “actively working to enhance its testing capacity, particularly for high-risk products like vape cartridges” but declined to give a specific timeline. The DCC has already spent three years and $11 million on a lab at UC San Diego to test cannabis products, but that lab has struggled to meet any of the testing expectations required by its contract with the DCC.
“We are committed to continuing our work on expanding required pesticide testing. DCC is focused on ensuring that all cannabis products on the market are safe for consumers and all licensees are meeting the consumer safety standards set forth in law,” Vaughan said.
Four months after SFGATE’s report on the contaminated product still being for sale, the Los Angeles Times published an investigation that found 25 different legal vape pens were contaminated with pesticides. In addition to some of the pens testing positive for one of the 66 chemicals banned by the state, the report also found evidence that some vape pens contained pesticides that the state does not require testing for.
In other words: A vape cartridge could pass required state testing but still contain dangerous chemicals if those chemicals are not on the list of 66. The Times found, in particular, 16 products that contained pymetrozine, a pesticide that the Environmental Protection Agency has determined is a “likely” carcinogen because it led to liver tumors in experiments with rodents. Canada has already banned the pesticide from being used on vegetables due to potential cancer risk; the European Union revoked its use authorization as well. California’s pesticide tests do not require evaluating for pymetrozine.
The loudest voice so far has been Elliot Lewis, the outspoken CEO of Catalyst, one of the state’s largest retail cannabis chains. Lewis declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has documented his business operations through a constant stream of LinkedIn posts and Instagram videos, in which he paints an alarming image of what is being sold on retail shelves. Lewis said in one August video that he was inspired to increase pesticide scanning of Catalyst’s products because “I didn’t get into this game to be part of some system that’s slanging poison, even if it’s off panel” — in other words, not one of California’s mandatory-testing toxins — “and it’s a minority of product.”
Lewis launched a new testing program for vape cartridges at his stores this summer, retesting the products on the shelves and requiring that vape producers pass expanded pesticide screening that tests for hundreds of additional pesticides beyond California’s current required testing list, he explained in the August LinkedIn video. Lewis said in another video that “clever cultivators” are using chemicals that aren’t currently tested for, though he did not list any specific brands or offer evidence for the claim.
Lewis has repeatedly referenced pymetrozine, the same chemical that the Los Angeles Times found in 16 products, in his videos. He estimated in August that “maybe 15%” of all cartridges sold in the legal industry contain pymetrozine, including from some of the state’s “best brands,” though he hedged his claim by saying “I don’t know, I don’t have enough data.”
Josh Swider, an analytical chemist and the co-founder of Infinite Chemical Analysis Lab, a state-certified testing lab in San Diego, said in an email to SFGATE that in a recently tested batch of 183 cannabis vape cartridges pulled from store shelves, 30% tested positive for trace levels of pymetrozine, which means levels too small for the lab to quantify. Over 18% tested positive for significant levels of the insecticide.
FILE: Researcher taking a few cannabis buds for a scientific experiment.
The Los Angeles Times even found the chemical in one vape produced by Stiiizy, the most popular vape company in the state. Stiiizy has never denied that its vapes contain the pesticide, including after two requests for comment from SFGATE. Instead, on both occasions, Pristina Alford, a spokesperson for Stiiizy, has replied only by saying Stiiizy follows all California laws.
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It’s ultimately unknown exactly what the risks are of vaping cannabis oil contaminated with pesticides like pymetrozine. There are essentially no human studies on how these products affect our health, and the products are still so new that there are no long-term studies on what happens when you vape contaminated oil for years, or even decades, which some users are on track to do. Lewis, wearing a hat that said “Make Vapes Great Again,” was far blunter in his assessment of the pesticide in one of his recent podcasts: “Go look it up. It’s bad for you. It will f—king kill you.”
FILE: Marijuana vape pen cartridge with radiant rainbow lighting and dark background.Drew Beynon/Getty Images
By Lester Black,Cannabis editorSep 12, 2024
Dr. Laurie Vollen has been encouraging people to use cannabis for decades, recommending thousands of her patients smoke marijuana to treat a wide range of conditions. But the Berkeley medical doctor has a simple message when someone asks her if they should use cannabis vape cartridges: Don’t do it.
Vollen has been critical of cannabis vapes for years, pointing to evidence that the cartridges can expose users to heavy metals and have never been evaluated for long-term health effects. Her concern increased this year after a pesticide scandal swept through the cannabis industry, with many vape cartridges sold in California’s legal stores testing positive for pesticides.
“You’re just getting an increased exposure to another toxin,” Vollen said. “It’s one more piece of evidence that people should not be vaping.”
A convenient high
Cannabis vape cartridges have become an almost irresistible product for cannabis users over the past decade. They can fit in your pocket and need only a handheld electronic battery the size of a pen to work. Just attach the cartridge to a battery, click a button, inhale and voila, you’re on your way to getting high without the smell or annoyance of burning anything.Consumers clearly enjoy the products: California sold nearly $100 million worth of vape pens last month, and vapes far outsell pre-rolled joints and edibles, according to cannabis data company Headset. With modern convenience, however, comes a new set of concerns compared with the traditional process of smoking cannabis flower out of glass pipes or rolled into joints.
FILE: A man exhales smoke while legally smoking weed with a vape pen in Washington state.
Tegra Stone Nuess/Getty Images
To start, the cannabis cartridge and battery itself could potentially be toxic to users. A 2021 study that tested legal vape cartridges purchased in Washington state found that heavy metals can leach from vape cartridge components into the vapor that is inhaled from the end of the vaporizer, exposing users directly to potentially toxic heavy metals.
There are also concerns about the cannabis oil inside vaping cartridges. Cannabis oil is extracted from cannabis flower to produce an oily substance that can be over 90% percent THC by weight, far higher than the average 20% THC potency found in dried cannabis flower.
These extractions don’t only concentrate THC. They can also increase how much contamination ends up in the final cannabis oil, because the process required to turn flower into oil removes plant matter without necessarily removing contaminants. That means cannabis flower that has a relatively low amount of pesticide contamination can become cannabis oil with concerning levels of contamination, with those pesticides becoming a larger portion of the overall product.
California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), the state agency in charge of regulating California’s legal weed industry, told SFGATE that it considers vape cartridges to be “high-risk products” for pesticide contamination. California’s own recall history appears to demonstrate the risks associated with cannabis oils: All 11 pesticide recalls issued this year by the state of California contained concentrated cannabis oil, and nine of the recalls were of vape products.
Historically, contaminated cannabis oil was primarily a concern in the illicit market, whose products face no safety checks and are illegally sold outside of permitted retailers. Most notably, contaminated cannabis vape cartridges that were primarily sold on the illicit market killed dozens of people in 2019 and 2020 and hospitalized thousands more.
However, there’s now growing concern that even legal vape pens could be dangerous.
California’s pesticide scandal
California has some of the strictest pesticide rules for cannabis in the nation, requiring pot companies to test all legal products for over 60 different chemicals. However, recent news reports have called into question the DCC’s ability to enforce those stringent rules.First, an SFGATE investigation published in February found that cannabis vape cartridges sold at legal stores contained a banned pesticide. More concerning, the vape cartridge in question was still being sold at the store after the DCC had placed a preliminary recall on the product — information that is not available to the public — and banned its sale, evidence that the DCC was unable to pull products it had deemed dangerous from shelves in a timely manner.
In response to SFGATE questions, the DCC admitted in February that the state’s own labs were unable to perform the state-mandated pesticide tests for legal products. David Hafner, a DCC spokesperson, said in February that the agency would be able to test all products “shortly,” but the agency confirmed to SFGATE last month that it still lacked the ability to test for all pesticides.
Glynnis Vaughan, a spokesperson for the agency, told SFGATE in an emailed statement in August that the agency is “actively working to enhance its testing capacity, particularly for high-risk products like vape cartridges” but declined to give a specific timeline. The DCC has already spent three years and $11 million on a lab at UC San Diego to test cannabis products, but that lab has struggled to meet any of the testing expectations required by its contract with the DCC.
“We are committed to continuing our work on expanding required pesticide testing. DCC is focused on ensuring that all cannabis products on the market are safe for consumers and all licensees are meeting the consumer safety standards set forth in law,” Vaughan said.
Four months after SFGATE’s report on the contaminated product still being for sale, the Los Angeles Times published an investigation that found 25 different legal vape pens were contaminated with pesticides. In addition to some of the pens testing positive for one of the 66 chemicals banned by the state, the report also found evidence that some vape pens contained pesticides that the state does not require testing for.
In other words: A vape cartridge could pass required state testing but still contain dangerous chemicals if those chemicals are not on the list of 66. The Times found, in particular, 16 products that contained pymetrozine, a pesticide that the Environmental Protection Agency has determined is a “likely” carcinogen because it led to liver tumors in experiments with rodents. Canada has already banned the pesticide from being used on vegetables due to potential cancer risk; the European Union revoked its use authorization as well. California’s pesticide tests do not require evaluating for pymetrozine.
Banned pesticides found in vapes
While the DCC flounders, some retailers are choosing not to wait for the state to act to protect their customers.The loudest voice so far has been Elliot Lewis, the outspoken CEO of Catalyst, one of the state’s largest retail cannabis chains. Lewis declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has documented his business operations through a constant stream of LinkedIn posts and Instagram videos, in which he paints an alarming image of what is being sold on retail shelves. Lewis said in one August video that he was inspired to increase pesticide scanning of Catalyst’s products because “I didn’t get into this game to be part of some system that’s slanging poison, even if it’s off panel” — in other words, not one of California’s mandatory-testing toxins — “and it’s a minority of product.”
Lewis launched a new testing program for vape cartridges at his stores this summer, retesting the products on the shelves and requiring that vape producers pass expanded pesticide screening that tests for hundreds of additional pesticides beyond California’s current required testing list, he explained in the August LinkedIn video. Lewis said in another video that “clever cultivators” are using chemicals that aren’t currently tested for, though he did not list any specific brands or offer evidence for the claim.
Lewis has repeatedly referenced pymetrozine, the same chemical that the Los Angeles Times found in 16 products, in his videos. He estimated in August that “maybe 15%” of all cartridges sold in the legal industry contain pymetrozine, including from some of the state’s “best brands,” though he hedged his claim by saying “I don’t know, I don’t have enough data.”
Josh Swider, an analytical chemist and the co-founder of Infinite Chemical Analysis Lab, a state-certified testing lab in San Diego, said in an email to SFGATE that in a recently tested batch of 183 cannabis vape cartridges pulled from store shelves, 30% tested positive for trace levels of pymetrozine, which means levels too small for the lab to quantify. Over 18% tested positive for significant levels of the insecticide.
FILE: Researcher taking a few cannabis buds for a scientific experiment.
The Los Angeles Times even found the chemical in one vape produced by Stiiizy, the most popular vape company in the state. Stiiizy has never denied that its vapes contain the pesticide, including after two requests for comment from SFGATE. Instead, on both occasions, Pristina Alford, a spokesperson for Stiiizy, has replied only by saying Stiiizy follows all California laws.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
It’s ultimately unknown exactly what the risks are of vaping cannabis oil contaminated with pesticides like pymetrozine. There are essentially no human studies on how these products affect our health, and the products are still so new that there are no long-term studies on what happens when you vape contaminated oil for years, or even decades, which some users are on track to do. Lewis, wearing a hat that said “Make Vapes Great Again,” was far blunter in his assessment of the pesticide in one of his recent podcasts: “Go look it up. It’s bad for you. It will f—king kill you.”
