Despite evidence tying vaping-related epidemic to black-market THC vape products, health nannies want to ban legal products and thus give black markets a bigger boost.
After news broke about a serious and sometimes deadly outbreak of vaping-related illnesses, my colleagues who work in the harm-reduction field — i.e., health activists who argue that smokers ought to reduce their potential harm by switching to less-deadly alternatives — called on health officials to figure out what’s going on before issuing bans or edicts.
To their credit, many state health agencies, including (and surprisingly) those in California, took a measured and generally scientific approach to the matter. They sometimes passed emergency regulations temporarily limiting the sale of vape products, but they mostly issued warnings. As more evidence has emerged about the nature of the illnesses, that approach has turned out to be a wise one.
But anti-vaping activists and politicians still seem stuck in their ban-happy ways even as information from the Centers for Disease Control confirms that the epidemic likely has nothing whatsoever to do with legal nicotine-vaping products. In fact, the culprit appears to be black-market vaping products used to inhale THC-containing substances. THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical that provides cannabis with its sought-after high.
Steven Greenhut – Spectator.org – November 28, 2019.
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