I heard on the news that vaping can cause a serious lung disorder. That’s the type of thing patients ask me about almost every day now and I think that most people out there have also seen this in the news. Join me as we discuss this important topic.
Hi. I’m Dr. Dan Stein, a board-certified neurologist and medical cannabis expert. Vaping is one way that patients inhale medicine. The other way is smoking. Oftentimes vaping can irritate the throat and so we have to be careful. But recently there has been an outbreak of pulmonary diseases. Vaping-induced pulmonary disease is a serious condition. There have been six deaths I believe and over 400 or 500 people have been affected across the country.
It turns out that when people inhale vapor from oils or cartridges, either nicotine cartridges or cannabis cartridges, there may be contaminants in the oil, sometimes vitamin E acetate, and these contaminants can irritate the lungs and cause a very serious pulmonary condition. Patients will have coughing. They will feel sick, tired. They will come into the hospital usually after a week or two of symptoms and their chest X-rays look awful.
It’s a serious condition. We are now looking very carefully at these contaminants and trying to make sure that our regulations for making sure that vape products are safe are still in place.
It turns out that the people that are affected by these vape-induced lung diseases are getting their products on the underground. These are bootlegs. These are products that people are making in their garages out of glass cartridges that they buy from overseas and filled with contaminants and some THC or some nicotine and sell on the open market.
It turns out that in Florida, we have not seen a single case of vape-induced pulmonary disease from cartridges that were purchased at regulated dispensaries. So it’s important to make sure that when you inhale medication, you’re getting it from a reliable source. I’m trying to provide a lot of reassurance to our patients because vaping can be a very effective way to take your cannabis medicine.
I wanted to share this information with you and provide you with insight and understanding about vape-related problems. But I know that you have your own questions and concerns about your own situation. So if you are a seasonal or permanent resident of Florida, please feel free to call me and come in for an appointment. We are here at Neurology of Cannabis to help you and I would be happy to talk with you about your specific problems.
You can reach me at 941-400-1211 or email info@neurologyofcannabis.com. I answer questions like yours every day and I would love to hear from you. That’s our video for today. I’m Dr. Dan Stein. Have a great day.