cannabis dabbing lung issues There are many ways to get high from marijuana. Historically, marijuana exposure has usually taken the form of smoked joints, blunts, or pipes. Other means of consumption include using a bong (ie, water pipe) or oral ingestion (ie, edibles). 1 Vaping involves inhaling an aerosol vapor derived from a liquid or dry material that is heated using an electronic device, or e-cigarette. Dry herb vapes heat dry marijuana flower without the use of additional liquid. 2 Vitamin E acetate is an oily chemical added to THC vaping liquids to change its consistency and is a CDC toxin of concern. 3
An increasingly popular method of consuming marijuana is dabbing, which refers to the inhalation of vapors containing extremely concentrated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) derived from marijuana-based concentrates, extracts, and oils such as butane hash oil (BHO). Dabbing differs from the use of traditional flower cannabis because of the high THC content and the presence of unpurged butane and other impurities. 1
“Think of what smoking crack was to snorting cocaine or fentanyl to oxycodone or beer to distilled spirits. There are definitely parallels in that the user gets a rapid high dose, but the drug is the same,” said Russell Bowler, MD, PhD, Chair Genomic Sciences and System Biology at the Cleveland Clinic, in an email interview with Pulmonology Advisor.
Case reports in the literature describe acute and chronic lung impairment secondary to BHO dabbing, such as pneumonitis, pneumonia, and acute hypoxemic lung failure. Dabbing also results in structural brain changes, cognitive dysfunction, psychosis, and acute psychosis. Making Butane Hash Oil
Although many think dabbing is new, its origins trace back to the Vietnam war, when it was thought that soldiers would extract THC into liquid concentrate by using solvents, including acetone or petrol. Users would then smear the liquid concentrate onto rolling paper or saturate tobacco with it.
Butane extraction entails passing liquid butane through raw marijuana vegetation. THC and other hydrophobic compounds dissolve in the butane and are filtered out with the butane. The butane is then either allowed to evaporate or actively purged with […]
Cannabis Dabbing, Which Has High THC Levels, Linked to Lung Impairments
