Hey Everyone,
Welcome to CBreatheD,
I truly appreciate your engagement w/our blog.
The requests we are receivng to clarify the Vape Hysteria has reached critical mass, but still not as hysterical as our media! If you are as concerned as us about the Vape crisis? Allow us to further explain, as only we can.
The Vape Hysteria in our current information climate is reporting hundreds of respiratory illness cases & unfortunately some deaths. The news is worst case scenario for all the families involved, as well as the industry. The reports have been nothing short of a calamity. We offer our condolences to all involved on a personal & professional level.
Why/how are individuals contracting illnesses from vaping, when it has been around on a large scale since approximately 2007? The answer is multi-faceted. To clarify, the illnesses are directly related to illicit THC cartridges (not flavored e-liquid w/or w/out nicotine). When the illnesses are reported as “vaping”, yes individuals are vaping. But the term “vaping” is being way too over-generalized. Thus, causing a demonization of businesses not affiliated w/the illness at all. Vaping is simply a process of diffusing a liquid or solid. So, specifics need to be applied accordingly.
Illicit THC cartridges are the main culprit in the Vape hysteria. Individuals are acquiring cartridges w/illicit THC, vaping these products, consequently contracting illnesses. THC is the psychoactive component of the marijuana plant. To make THC into a solution to be vaped? One must put the marijuana plant through a scientific extraction process. Once the marijuana goes through the extraction process, it becomes a significantly more concentrated soluble form of itself. When one has the concentrated soluble form of marijuana, it’s combined w/agents to adjust the viscosity of the concentrate, then filled into individual cartridges.
The marijuana industry is quickly becoming more parallel with the vape industry. Many individuals are choosing to vape their marijuana rather than smoke it. Demand for vape products in the cannabis industry are rapidly increasing. Queue the drug dealers & black market! As demand for vape-able marijuana goes up? The black market will comply. Now you have many drug dealers who were originally growing/supplying marijuana, attempting to create their own concentrates. As you can imagine, marijuana’s black market isn’t exactly known for its quality control standards & regulatory efforts!
When the black market decides to grow marijuana, they will have a singular focus. Focus being, to mature their plants as soon as possible, so they can be harvested & sold for profits. Same drug dealers will use every chemical they can to ensure a fast crop. Chemicals such: miracle grow, round up, insecticides, pesticides, etc. When the marijuana plant is concentrated, the whole thing including all the chemicals you exposed the plant to get concentrated.
Now your drug dealer (who apparently thinks they are a master chemist, because they took YouTube courses on how to make marijuana concentrate) have a concentrated substance of THC & every insecticide/pesticide they just exposed to the plant. Do you have any idea what concentrated insecticide, pesticide, miracle grow, round up, & THC produces? Use your imagination!
Some people ask us, what about the same effect from the plant-based marijuana (the flower not the concentrate). Planet based marijuana has a THC level of approximately 20%, concentrates are usually a minimum of 97%. The comparison is not even close! A lot of people will report adverse effects from smoking flower, usually you can relate those effects back to chemicals used on the plant. But in a concentrated level? Heated up exponentially & instantly via vaping? The effects & onset of the harm can become deadly, as we are learning.
As a cannabis industry insider, I have been exposed to every kind of illicit product imaginable. I initially saw these illicit THC cartridges becoming a big deal in the Spring of 2019. I immediately reached out to companies who were victims of the counterfeit market. The original companies are the gold standard of Cannabis. I would liken it to people making counterfeit Bentley automobiles. When I spoke to the actual companies, they were aware of the counterfeit illicit market quickly expanding. Here is what they told me: they ordered many of the illicit products & tested them thoroughly (as they would their own). The illicit products were testing positive for many heavy metals, contaminants, concentrated synthetics, K2, spice, etc. But the main substance these illicit cartridges were producing was Cyanide. Yes, the same blocking oxygen “you are probably going to die” toxic Cyanide.
The real companies warned of the coming illnesses we are experiencing now. They told me they expect the outcome to be worse case scenario. Something along the lines of, we wake up one day & hundreds have died.
In the media some have reported the links to illicit THC cartridges. Some have touched upon a cutting agent known as Vitamin E acetate. Basic science proves water & oil do not mix. The liquids w/nicotine & flavors are water soluble, impossible to “cut” them w/vitamin E acetate because there would be no solubility. But no one is reporting on the information presented above. The CDC & Government says they are not sure of the cause. Many in our industry do know & have the lab reports to prove exact knowledge of the illnesses. Anyone’s guess as to why the data is being ignored, is as good as mine!
The media has also been reporting kids contracting the illness claiming they were just vaping, no mention of THC. These same kids are underage (illegal to even own vape products) & they are NOT going to tell their parents they were vaping THC. Most cases are later discovering THC was in fact vaped in some capacity. Parents are just listening to their kids, who I’m sure are appearing adamant & using vaping as a scapegoat just like the media & Government. Let’s drug test the kids to decide the THC issue. The media & Government are also demonizing JUUL in the scapegoat process. If kids are claiming to just be using JUULs?
Its most likely they were at some point. But third party JUUL cartridges are purchased by drug dealers in the aftermarket & then filled w/the same illicit THC concentrate as the cartridges in question. To just say the kids were vaping their JUUL is not accurate. The only way to confirm no THC was used would be via toxicology results. The amount of disinformation going around is unconsciously frustrating for a company like ours.
The argument in support of an overall vape ban claims long term effects of vaping are not known. Very questionable as well because there are companies in the industry producing products & independently lab testing them to the highest medical/scientific standards. For example, some companies produce vape liquids molecule by molecule, then test it pre & post heating the solution. They then expose the molecule to different parts of anatomy. The vape solutions will be exposed to blood, bronchial regions, lungs, brains, etc. Lungs are living organisms, if the molecules in the vape solutions produce any type of negative reaction to the lungs, the solution is reformulated until it has zero negative effect. The same process is mimicked throughout all testing. Long term exposure would only be an issue if there was any form of irritant initially. The “long term unknown effect” argument is not valid, especially with modern advancements in genetic data proving scientific conclusions extrapolated out as far 60+ years.
The ministry of health in the UK & Canada actively advocate for vaping as a 96% less harmful option than smoking. 40% off all smoking harm comes from creating smoke, combustion. Once you remove the fire element of smoking? 40% of the harm is reduced. Vaping just took the concept to the next level. Vaping CBD oil/product provides the quickest onset effect. Vaping CBD is the ideal solution to acute onsets of anxiety or pain.
The whole “ban vape” issue has completely ulterior motives & the truth is always revealed; thus, the real solution is patience.
We know the above can be information overload, so we thank you for your time.
Any question or concerns feel free to reach out to us as always.
Sincerely,
Kay, CEO
Breathe Vape Lounge
2934 Biddle Ave
Wyandotte, MI 48192
(734) 999 – 0560