Vaping illnesses linked to vitamin E acetate

Health officials have found the likely missing link between cannabis vaping and a mysterious illness: a toxic “cutting agent” used to stretch supply — and profits.

In a report released Tuesday morning, the federal Centers for Disease Control found that vitamin E acetate has been detected in a high proportion of THC-containing products associated with lung injury and death.

The federal investigators also found the substance in the lung fluids of patients from 10 states, including California.

The new report underscores the risk of untested products sold to unsuspecting consumers on the nation’s sprawling cannabis black market. Consumers may not know that the illicit product they’re buying is not safe. Like a fake Rolex watch, the cheap cannabis products look legitimate. But they’re far more dangerous.

About two-thirds of patients said they had vaped THC products labeled as “Dank Vapes,” “the most prominent in a class of largely counterfeit brands, with common packaging that is easily available online and that is used by distributors to market THCcontaining cartridges,” according to the CDC.

Dank Vapes is not a legally licensed brand in California, so is not regulated or tested. On Tuesday morning, the company was still selling product online, asserting “Zero Vitamin E. Accetate (sic).” And “No Lungs Related illnesses (sic).”

While it’s legal for licensed producers to add natural chemicals called terpenes to improve smell or taste, illicit producers are adding unapproved substances that look like cannabis oil, but cost less.

“These findings…highlight concerns about e-cigarette, or vaping, products that contain THC acquired from informal sources such as friends, family members, or in-person or online dealers,” according to the new CDC report.

“Because local supply chains and policy environments vary, CDC continues to recommend not to use ecigarette, or vaping, products that contain THC and not to use any e-cigarette, or vaping, products obtained from informal sources,” it stated.

Vitamin E acetate was identified as a contaminant earlier this year by the Santa Cruz-based cannabis testing facility SC Labs. When it tested an illicit cannabis product, bought off Craigslist, it detected the compound.

A total of 2,290 cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury have been reported to CDC. Of these patients, 47 have died.

In California, 166 people have sickened and four have died. Of these cases, 70 are so sick they required admission to the Intensive Care Unit. Two-thirds are men and nearly half, or 44 percent, are Hispanic.

The number of California illnesses has declined since its peak in early October.

Of interviewed California patients, all except one reported that they bought their THC vaping products from illicit street vendors, pop-up shops, social contacts, or unlicensed sellers.

In a cluster of cases in the Central Valley’s rural Kings County, where cannabis is illegal, every patient vaped cannabis or cannabis oils using devices bought from an illicit “pop up” shop.

In Marin County, one victim was Amanda Margot Arconti, 45, of Vacaville. She sickened while visiting relatives on Nov. 6 and her family brought her to the emergency room at Novato Community Hospital, where she died.

The outbreak has alarmed many users of vaporizing cigarettes and devices, which are popular because they’re presumed to be much healthier than products that burn. These devices don’t rely on cancer-causing combustion. Instead, they use heat to convert a liquid to a vapor, or mist, which is inhaled.

While the net benefit of vaporizing has not yet been reviewed by federal authorities the devices have been used largely without incident for years.

What’s been so mysterious is the sudden emergence of health problems over the past six months.

But the implication of vitamin E acetate likely explains why. Cannabis insiders say the marketing of this and other cutting agents suddenly increased last spring. Indeed, the CDC found no evidence of vitamin E acetate in products tested in 2018.

While California’s licensed testing labs don’t flag the presence of fillers like vitamin E acetate in a cartridge, there’s little incentive for legal manufacturers to add it, because it dilutes the THC content. High levels of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, add value to a product.