Massachusetts Governor ' s Emergency Order Protects Drug Dealers at the Expense of Hundreds of Life-Saving Small Businesses

In a move that is a huge victory for the state ' s drug dealers, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has instituted a4-month ban on the sale of all vaping products in the state, including both nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes sold at retail stores and vape shops and cannabis vaping products sold at legal cannabis dispensaries. The ban, which was approved by the state Public Health Council on Tuesday, goes into effect immediately and was motivated by the recent emergence of an outbreak of vaping-associated respiratory illness (VARI) that has affected more than530 people across the United States and has resulted in nine deaths.The primary suspected cause of this outbreak of severe, acute respiratory failure which often takes the form of lipoid pneumonia or an eosinophilic chemical pneumonitis is the widespread black market sale ofillicit marijuana vape cartridges, many of which contain a viscous oil that is used as a thickening agent to help drug dealers obtain a higher price for the THC vape carts they are selling. There were recentlytwo major drug busts which recovered thousands of oil-laden THC vape carts, and testing of THC vape carts provided by numerous case patients in New York State revealed that all of them contained high levels of vitamin E acetate oil, the thickening agent that has recentlycome into widespread use by illicit drug manufacturers (as well assome legal manufacturers).Although the CDC hasmisled the public into thinking that nicotine-containing e...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs