Vaping & illicit drugs: Promises and pitfalls

Vaping is emerging as a key method of administering drugs beyond nicotine. For example, in legal cannabis markets, cannabis vaping products have emerged as highly popular. Vaping drugs such as cannabis could offer valuable opportunities for reducing the harms of smoked administration. This is particularly important given that cannabis is widely co-administered with tobacco. On the other hand, vaping products for drugs such as cannabis may not always be less harmful and could carry greater risks. For example, they might contain drugs different to those expected by the consumer, such as synthetic cannabinoids – highly harmful synthetic drugs that are implicated in half of all prison deaths. Inspired by media reports of vaping-related serious adverse events in schools, we tested the contents of vapes collected from 27 schools in England, seized from pupils during normal school operation. We found the presence of synthetic cannabinoids in 17.5% of all samples and in 78% of all sampled schools. We found THC (the active drug in cannabis) in only 1.6% of samples. Informed by discussions with young people, we believe that pupils are being mis-sold synthetic cannabinoids as ‘cannabis’ in vapes, and are unaware that they are being sold a considerably more harmful drug. These findings raise significant concerns for the health of young people using these vapes.