![\"title_ny_4thave_0\"](\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jolt\/files\/2017\/04\/title_ny_4thave_0-300x188.jpg\")
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By: Daniel Eggleston<\/p>\n
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E-cigarettes, also called vape pens, were once heralded as a much safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, and a way for smokers to either kick the habit or decrease cancer risks.[1]<\/a> Because e-cigs are available in a wide array of flavors and devices (some look like pipes, others like cigarettes, and many look like futuristic gadgets), many members of the public grew concerned of the e-cig\u2019s potential appeal to youngsters.[2]<\/a> The FDA released statistics corroborating this fear: in \u201c2013-2014, 81% of current youth e-cigarette users cited the availability of appealing flavors as the primary reasons for use.\u201d[3]<\/a>, and that \u201ce-cigarettes . . . [w]ere the most commonly used tobacco product among youth\u201d in both 2014 and 2015.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n While these statistics might raise eyebrows by themselves, a new use for vape pens is becoming increasingly more widespread.[5]<\/a> CNN published a story on vape pens being used to as a vehicle to consume illegal drugs like flakka, methamphetamines, heroin, and marijuana.[6]<\/a> \u201cWater-soluble synthetics are easily converted into liquid concentrate that can go into the device cartridges and be vaped just like nicotine and other legal substances.\u201d[7]<\/a> This makes it difficult for law enforcement officers to detect if illicit drug use is occurring or whether an e-cig simply contains flavored tobacco oil.[8]<\/a> Police have a harder time establishing probable cause because of the uncertainty of an e-cig contains nicotine, or something worse.[9]<\/a> Furthermore, this masked consumption has also resulted in people unknowingly consuming, and in some cases overdosing, on illegal drugs the user unknowingly consumed.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University received a grant from the Department of Justice to explore \u201chow drug users are increasingly using e-cigarette devices to vape illicit drugs.\u201d[11]<\/a> Users pass on this knowledge via online drug forums and YouTube tutorials, explaining how meth can be consumed in the workplace, with no one the wiser.[12]<\/a> What\u2019s more, social media users and celebrity culture are endorsing vape pens as a discreet way to get high in public, in school, or in the workplace.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n The research team is testing the efficacy of vape pens in delivering drugs like meth, heroin, marijuana, and others to the user.[14]<\/a> That vape pens are effective is indisputable given the wide-spread consumption of drugs through the devices \u2013 what the researchers are measuring is the dosage levels transmitted in the vapor clouds and analysis of the \u201ccommercially available e-liquids to see if the purported contents matched the labels.\u201d[15]<\/a> The researchers found wide discrepancies between ingredients listed on the labels and what the e-liquids actually contained.[16]<\/a> Some e-liquids contained drugs that labels specifically claimed they did not contain, prompting the researchers to cite major concern over the lack of regulatory labeling oversight.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n The Food and Drug Administration has responded to some of these concerns with increased regulation over the e-cigarette industry.[18]<\/a> One of these regulations requires \u201cfederal approval for most flavored nicotine juices and e-cig devices sold in vape shops.\u201d[19]<\/a> What remains to be seen, however, is how the FDA responds to the use of e-cigs for their as a vehicle for consuming illicit drugs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> See <\/em>Sara Ganim & Scott Zamost, Vaping: The latest scourge in drug abuse<\/em>, CNN, (last visited Sept. 5, 2015) http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/09\/04\/us\/vaping-abuse\/.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Vaporizers, E-Cigarettes, and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)<\/em>, Food and Drug Admin. (last visited Feb. 13, 2017) https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/TobaccoProducts\/Labeling\/ProductsIngredientsComponents\/ucm456610.htm#regulation.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> See supra <\/em>note 1.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> See supra <\/em>note 5.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Brian McNeill, Shedding light on a vaping trend: Researchers study the use of e-cigarettes for illicit drugs<\/em>, Va. Commonwealth Univ. News (last visited Feb. 22, 2017) https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/Shedding_light_on_a_vaping_trend_Researchers_study_the_use_of.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> Supra <\/em>note 10.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n