Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there's vapor, at the moment, there's hysteria.
Let's take a few, uh, deep breaths here.
People who vape partake of a wide range of substances made by a wide range of manufacturers.
There's legal, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, the kind you buy in vape shops and bodegas, which often now come in sweet, fruity flavors; Juul is the dominant name brand.
Millions of teens, whose malleable brains can be harmed by nicotine, are getting hooked. That's bad. Meantime, some cigarette addicts are taking up this kind of vaping to kick the lung-cancer-causing habit. That's better than bad.
There are also tons of other products, including off-brand, completely unregulated substances and devices, which are often used to vape THC, marijuana's active ingredient.
The 380 cases and seven deaths across 36 states recently attributed to a mysterious lung disease are all linked to vaping--but we don't yet know which kind. So far, officials say most cases involved vaping THC.
Vaping anything at all may be very bad for you. But there signs vaping pot products and inhaling particular contaminants may be especially dangerous. Follow the science, including if and when New York moves to legalize recreational marijuana.
Editorial on 09/20/2019