New Vaping Hazard!

OY Vape.

Canada has a disastrous drug problem. ( More than 13,900 opioid deaths occurred between January 2016 and June 2019.) So it shouldn't surprise anyone that the government of Canada and their satraps saw fit to introduce legislation that facilitates converting the least toxic of the street drugs into killer drugs. I am speaking, of course of marijuana, now available for consumption in a myriad of ways few would have thought of until recently. The drug, which is no longer the drug your mother might have smoked has been carefully morphed into a more addicting and toxic form. The variety of presentations, make it more available and desirable to the younger segment of the population.
The latest life-threatening avenue of ingestion has seen the marriage of pot to E-cigarettes. E-cigarettes available since about 2003, were originally touted as a smoking cessation aid, the vaporized substrate was usually water vapour and some nicotine, and were a much less harmful habit than cigarette smoking, an opinion shared by many physicians. Unfortunately they were particularly popular with young people.  
It wasn't long before before the search for sensation led folks to try adding various drugs to the solution.
The Center for Disease Control and prevention in the US, as of December 17, 2019 documented a total of 2506 hospitalized cases of vaping related injuries in the US with 54 deaths confirmed on 27 States. The syndrome has been labeled EVALI (E-Vape Associated Lung Injury). These numbers represent hospitalized patients only, so we can only guess what the grand total might be. All of these patients have a history of using e- cigarettes or other vaping products.
THC, the intoxicating, psychoactive component of marijuana Is present in most of the samples tested by the FDA to date and most patients reported a history of using THC containing products. E cigs work by heating a liquid to vaporization that users inhale into their lungs. The liquid can contain anything including a combination of substances. 80% of the EVALI patients studied reported using THC containing products. 40% reported using both THC and Nicotine containing products. Some people will inject or ingest anything into themselves and have found a new delivery system in vaping. There is still a great deal we don't know about the mechanism of lung injury caused by the current vaping trends and the CDC continues monitoring the cases, testing in various ways for toxic substances and studying lung damage by biopsy and in fatalities by autopsy. They are also maintaining an aggressive educational program, including a web site, which will at least increase awareness among some of the potential victims.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that Vitamen E acetate, an oily chemical added to some THC vaping liquids to thicken them is a substance of concern. The chemical is a synthetic form of vitamin E that has some safe uses but that isn't safe to inhale. it is thick and sticky. It adheres to the lung tissues and interferes with their function and was found in many of the patients with EVALI. Vitamin E acetate has been found in many of the THC vaping cartridges used by patients suffering from lung disease associated with vaping. The role of the legalization of marijuana in the genesis of this new disease certainly needs clarification.