Researchers find marijuana vaporizers deliver toxins
December 15, 2018
Photo illustration by Sophie deBettencourt.
Vaporizing marijuana can cause many of the same health effects as smoking a joint or hitting a bong, in addition to causing the user to inhale toxic degradation products.
Vaporizing marijuana can cause the same health effects—coughing, wheezing, paranoia or memory loss—as smoking a joint or taking hits from a bong, said Igor Grant, a cannabis Research Director at the University of California, San Diego. But with dab pens, users inhale toxic degradation products because the heat applied to vaporize the oil is so intense.
Analytical chemistry researcher Jiries Meehan-Atrash works at Portland State University and researches cannabis vaporizing. Meehan-Atrash and two other PSU researchers conducted a 2017 study, finding that vaporizing hash oil may deliver “significant amounts” of toxic byproducts like formaldehyde, a carcinogen found in gasoline and car exhaust and another compound that has been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. It’s unclear if the toxins found in hash oil directly increase users’ risk of developing cancer, Meehan-Atrash said.
Meehan-Atrash said dabbing desensitizes users to the effects of e-cigarette smoking. Using both a dab pen and a nicotine vaporizer amplifies the respiratory damage both devices cause, he said.
Dabbing before bed can also be problematic, said Kevin Hill, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Hill said marijuana can limit the amount of time a person spends in the restorative phase. Less time spent in this phase can lead to decreased ability to store memories, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Teens are more likely to get addicted to marijuana than adults, said Linda Richter, the Director of Policy Research and Analysis at the Center on Addiction.
Marijuana can impede adolescent brain development, Richter said. Once the brain becomes more reliant on marijuana, it begins to adapt to the foreign substance, affecting how “you think and how you feel.”
While the long-term health effects of dabbing are unclear, frequent use could be dangerous, Grant said.
“Anytime you have an organ that is developing, and you introduce something there that you’re not sure what it’ll do, there’s certainly the potential of harm,” he said.