Posted on 10/14/2013 4:18:49 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
It’s easy these days to spot people smoking electronic cigarettes – the battery-powered, pen-sized inhalers marketed as cleaner alternatives to their traditional tobacco-packed counterparts.
What may be harder to detect, experts say, is what exactly is inside some of those discreet devices.
More and more, people are smoking marijuana out of e-cigarettes and vapor pens -- right out in the open with little or no fear of getting caught, users and experts say.
"I was on the train from New York to Baltimore and I enjoyed the pen the whole way there and back with no one noticing," said one life-long marijuana user who asked not to be identified. "I absolutely was thinking 'This is not bad at all.'"
Marijuana laws have relaxed nationwide in recent years, with Colorado and Washington legalizing its use and more than 20 other states either allowing it for medical purposes or decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug. Experts say drugs and drug products made for people using marijuana legally are increasingly finding their way to those who are using them illegally.
That includes marijuana in the liquid and wax forms most commonly used in e-cigarettes and vapor pens, they said.
"Marijuana is still widely smoked in its flower form, but this is a new way," said Bobby Black, senior editor of the New York-based marijuana lifestyle magazine High Times. "The younger generation is embracing it the same way rock and roll was around and then it was replaced by heavy metal."
Black says in the year since he first reviewed e-cigarettes and vapor pens in his magazine, the story has been one of the most popular features on the website.
Experts say marijuana doesn’t emit the telltale odor when it is smoked, in liquid or wax forms, in an e-cigarette or vaporizer. What’s more, since there is no flame, it’s easy for the user to stash in a pocket right after taking a puff.
But while marijuana use by adults may be becoming more accepted by some, local law enforcement officials and drug counselors say illegal drugs in e-cigarettes are a danger, especially if minors catch on to the trend.
While there is no data on how many teen s are using e-cigarettes or vaporizers to smoke marijuana, a recent U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention report showed that the percentage of middle and high school students who smoke e-cigarettes with nicotine and other additives in them more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. The CDC said the percentage of students who reported ever using one rose from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012.
"I care a lot about it," said Detective Lt. Kevin Smith, who heads the Narcotics Unit for the Nassau County Police Department. "For young people, marijuana is a gateway. The next thing you know they’re doing acid, molly, even heroin. I don’t like it that people are giving it a pass."
Smith said when an officer arrests someone on a drug charge who has an e-cigarette in his possession, the officer is now directed to test the cigarette or vaporizer for illegal drugs.
Marianne Chai, a Manhattan-based addiction psychologist, said e-cigarettes make it harder for parents to look for the old signs that their teens are using drugs.
"If you're a parent looking out for your child, you're probably a little nervous about this area," Chai said. "One sign parents used to have about illicit use going on is avoidance of hugging or closeness. This makes it a lot harder to detect."
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan,) said concern about young people using e-cigarettes, and the possible gateway to illegal drugs, is what spurred her to introduce a bill that became law last year making it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to minors. It’s also illegal in New Jersey, though there are no age restrictions in Connecticut or under federal law.
"Once you try electronic cigarettes, you can become hooked to them, move on to cigarettes and then move on to other drugs," Rosenthal said.
Nanny State PING!
Unintended consequences.......
HERE IS ONE:Very funny if you watched Breaking Bad
E-meth- Ecigs with Jessie Pinkman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5q8KWL6Ezw
It’s a drug delivery device. No judgement, that’s just what it is. Now consider what kind of “designer drugs” might be created for delivery through this method, and aimed at the likely target (i.e. kids).
A glimpse into Pandora’s Box.
Pot heads were heavily involved in indoor tobacco smoking bans and continue to be heavily behind out door tobacco smoking bans. So now they are looking to take away the only way tobacco smokers can enjoy there indulgence under certain circumstances AND take away what is proving to be the most effective means of quitting smoking.
I use to support their efforts to legalize marijuana - but once they got in bed with the anti (tobacco) smoker cartel, I stopped giving a rat’s rear end about their whining and no longer will publicly support legalizing or decriminalizing it.
nobody uses e-cigs to move onto regular cigarettes.
they do use them to get OFF of regular cigs.
this is just crap to crack down on ecigs because uncle sugar ain’ t getting their tobacco taxes.
Aw, come on. One hit on an e-cig and most people have an uncontrollable urge to go to the ghetto and look for some e-crack.
Yep!
I’m at 4 years, 4 months and 23 days since my last cigarette, after smoking for 30 years.
And I didn’t even WANT to quit!
Yeah. Let’s ban these E-Cigs that made that happen for me.
*ugh*
Don’t forget Big Pharma, with their expensive patches and inhalers. Oh, and Chantix, the Wonder Pill.
I switched to ecigs and haven’t had a cigarette in two years after having smoked for 43 years. No coughing in the morning, no ashes, no stink, no holes burned in clothing, carpets or car seats. My lungs are clear and I like it.
this is just crap to crack down on ecigs because uncle sugar ain’ t getting their tobacco taxes.”
This is the same thought that I have had for a while. When E-cigs first arrived on the scene it remained quiet until the tax revenue from cigarettes began decreasing. There are efforts to regulate E-cigs as they do cigarettes, or get them banned altogether.
The whole goal of villifying e-cigarettes is to get the FDA involved, so that they fall under FDA regulations, and can be heavily regulated, and heavily TAXED. I’m sure the tobacco lobby will buy a lot of politicians to ensure the competition is suitably mitigated.
Word is, the cigarette companies are buying up the e-cig companies. Don’t have it as fact, just what my local store owner said his e-cig distributor told him.
/johnny
I prefer cookies >> Vape > Smoke
“More and more, people are smoking marijuana out of e-cigarettes and vapor pens — right out in the open with little or no fear of getting caught, users and experts say.”
God Bless American Ingenuity!
Back in MY day, we had to make a ‘pipe’ out of a soda pop can, LOL!
I’ve heard the article has been taken apart in other forums.
The atomizer in ecigs don’t burn hot enough to vaporize THC. The atomizers are pretty unforgiving running a oil based product through them. They would clog quickly.
Just BS artist trying to whip people into a frenzy based on what someone watched on a Youtube video.
Thanks for the ping!
I've heard that they actually do work properly, at least some of them.
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