Cannabis Vape Sales Falter As Lung Illnesses Rise
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Yet as vape sales sink, some retailers report sales of other cannabis products going up. Bridge City Collective, for example, saw its usually lackluster edible sales increase about 40% the same week vaping sales plummeted. Consumers also are showing more interest in the dried flower used in joints.
Analysts are watching to see if vape sales erode further after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that the number of suspected vaping-related illnesses had grown by 52% in the past week.
CHICAGO LEWIS: Yeah. Take the vape crisis, right? We saw all of these lung illnesses emerge in the summer of 2019 caused almost entirely by illegal cannabis vape pens. Cannabis itself is not a very dangerous drug. But when you process it with gross chemicals and you do so as cheaply as possible, you might get something disgusting on the other end. I spoke to people in Los Angeles who were buying vape pens that, you know, had made them sick and didn't even understand that they were going to illegal dispensaries.
As of 5 September 2019, the New York State Department of Health reported 34 cases of severe lung illness in patients who were reportedly using different vaping products.[1] Tests conducted by the Wadsworth Center found exceedingly high amounts of vitamin E acetate in most of the cannabis e-cigarette products.[1] "At least one vape product containing vitamin E acetate has been linked to each patient who submitted a product for testing," the New York State Department of Health stated.[26] None of the nicotine-based product samples contained vitamin E acetate.[1] According to the reports from Illinois and Wisconsin, the onset of respiratory findings appeared to have occurred over several days to several weeks before hospitalization.[19] As of 5 September 2019, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 42 cases of lung illness, seven that were still being investigated, and one death.[27] Severe lung illness among young adults and youth who used vaping products required hospitalization in 11 cases in Wisconsin, and others were being investigated in August 2019.[28] Symptoms were difficulty breathing, tiredness, chest pain, cough, and reduced weight.[28] Some required assistance to breathe.[28]
On 18 September 2019, a case of severe lung illness associated with vaping in Canada was reported.[31] A high school student in Ontario needed to be put on life support.[31] The person had been vaping every day.[32] His health improved and he was released from the hospital.[31] This case has not been confirmed, as 27 September 2019.[33] He vaped intensively, adding THC to his devices.[21] He initially showed symptoms aligning with bronchiolitis (lung condition normally caused by a bacterial or viral infection), but many patients that have vape-related illnesses in the United States have experienced damage to the pulmonary alveoli; this type of injury was not found.[21] Instead, his case aligned more with an injury called popcorn lung, an ailment most commonly seen in factory workers of microwave popcorn plants nearly 20 years ago.[21]
Many of the samples tested by the states or by the US FDA, as part of the 2019 investigation, have been identified as vaping products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC, a psychoactive component of the cannabis plant) and further, most of those samples with THC tested also contained significant amounts of vitamin E acetate.[13] Vitamin E acetate is a substance present in topical consumer products or dietary supplements, but data is limited about its effects after inhalation.[13] While the US FDA does not have enough data presently to conclude that vitamin E acetate is the cause of the lung injury in these cases, the agency believes it is prudent to avoid inhaling this substance.[13] The US FDA's Forensic Chemistry Center serves as the FDA's national laboratory, and is playing a critical role in fact-gathering and analysis for the incidents of lung illnesses following vaping product use.[42]
Inhalation of chemicals or substances is considered to be the main cause of the lung illnesses.[48] Counterfeit cannabis cartridges are being sold to users at a reduced cost.[49] Dank Vapes is an illicit brand that uses a cartridge.[50] There is no singular company that owns Dank Vapes;[51] there have been hundreds of people selling Dank Vapes cartridges.[51] Dank Vapes appears to be the most prominent in a class of largely counterfeit brands, with common packaging that is easily available online, and that is used by distributors to market THC-containing cartridges with no obvious centralized production or distribution.[47] Some of the vaping products that contained exceedingly high amounts of vitamin E acetate include Chronic Carts and Dank Vapes.[1] Illicit vape brands have been sold across multiple states in the US.[52] As of 27 August 2019, the most frequently used product reported by patients experiencing respiratory, gastrointestinal, and/or constitutional symptoms in Illinois and Wisconsin was the THC product called Dank Vapes.[3] Dank Vapes was the most commonly reported product brand used by patients nationwide, although there are regional differences.[2] While Dank Vapes was most commonly reported in the Northeast and South, TKO and Smart Cart brands were more commonly reported by patients in the West, and Rove was more common in the Midwest.[2] The composition of THC based oils is, to a large extent, unknown.[3]
The e-cigarette industry is placing the blame on illicit vaping liquids for the lung injuries.[86] "Each day of this crisis brings more evidence that street vapes containing THC or other illegal drugs are responsible for these illnesses, not nicotine vaping products," said Gregory Conley of the American Vaping Association, in August 2019.[86] "Like any health-related events reportedly associated with the use of vapor products, we are monitoring these reports," Juul Labs stated to Reuters in August 2019.[87] The company also stated that some news agencies report that several cases of lung illness are associated with vaping THC, found in cannabis, "a Schedule 1 controlled substance that we do not sell."[87]
"The legal vapes have been actively regulated by FDA since Aug 2017. FDA has conducted thousands of inspections of manufacturers and vape stores, published manufacturing guidance, sought product removals etc. These tragedies point to illegal vapes and THC," former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb tweeted in August 2019.[90] During an interviewed on CNBC's Squawk Box on 9 September 2019, Gottlieb said that "the current belief is the illnesses are linked to illegal vapes containing vitamin E oil."[91] He also stated that cannabis products in the US should be regulated.[91]
Indeed, officials believe that vaping products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, are playing a large role in the current outbreak of vaping-related lung illnesses. Around 80% of patients hospitalized with vaping-related lung illnesses reported vaping THC products. A substance known as vitamin E acetate, which is found in THC-containing vape products, has also been linked to the outbreak, according to the CDC.
Cases of the vaping-related lung disease have been reported most often in patients who had vaped products with THC, the key psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. But some had vaped both THC and nicotine, while a small number used nicotine devices alone.
That's a significant decline, especially when earlier data showed that vape sales in 2019, prior to the health outbreak, accounted for a quarter of cannabis product sales. BDS and Arcview were expecting vape sales to reach $10.6 billion by 2024. Now, however, there are too many questions surrounding vaping to know whether that figure is still attainable.
The danger is that if regulators pull products from stores, it could encourage users to go the black market, which would negatively affect legal sales. Data suggest that teens continue to vape more marijuana even amid these illnesses, which means the demand is still strong. And if users can't access legal vape products, that may result in the black market flourishing.
A decline in vape sales is bad news for Altria (MO -0.37%), which invested billions in Juul and has already written down its investment by $4.5 billion as a result of concerns in the vaping market. The company is also banking on a strong vape market for its investment in cannabis producer Cronos Group to pay off as well. Cronos, like many other marijuana stocks, has been struggling in recent months and is down by almost two-thirds over the past year, even worse than how the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF performed during that time. 2b1af7f3a8