3 Things NOBODY Wants in Their Vape.

| Read Time: 5 mins | Format: News

Some young people in North Yorkshire have collapsed while vaping and had to be rushed to hospital. We asked a scientist what could make them so unwell. You can read the full article here. But if you haven’t time for that, here’s 3 things you don’t want in your vape:

THC

THC can get you high. But too much will make you unwell.

THC is something some people do want in their vape. It is the substance in cannabis that gets you high. However, since THC is illegal, you won’t find it in any vapes sold in well-known shops and online stores. Instead, THC can be found in vapes you get from dealers, dodgy shops and websites, or friends. Consuming too much THC can be very unpleasant. It can leave you sweating, sick, dizzy, and with a high heart rate. Making sure you don’t get to this point can be difficult because illegal products don’t have to stick to any rules about what is in them. This means these vapes can contain a little, a lot, or no THC at all – no matter what is printed on the label. Also, when you vape a drug, you can inhale a lot more of it than if you’d smoked it. This is another reason to be extra careful with vaping THC. Too much can make you very unwell.

Vitamin E Acetate

People who accidentally vape Vitamin E Acetate can experience serious breathing difficulties.

Vitamin E acetate is not good. It is a toxic substance added to illegal products. It is a cheap way to thin or thicken vape oil. If you buy a vape or vaping oil from a well-known shop or online store, it will never contain vitamin E acetate. This is because vitamin E acetate is banned from vapes and oils sold in the UK. Why is vitamin E acetate a problem? Because when you heat vitamin E acetate in a vape, it turns into Ketene gas which can scar your lungs and cause a condition called Popcorn Lung. This was a huge problem in America where 68 people died after vaping vitamin E acetate. Most worryingly, you won’t know if this toxic substance is in a vaping oil because it has no distinctive smell or colour.

Spice

Spice isn’t grown like cannabis but made in a lab. It’s not like cannabis at all. It’s much more dangerous.

Spice is sometimes confused as fake cannabis, but it isn’t cannabis at all. Cannabis is grown but Spice is created in a laboratory out of chemicals. There are hundreds of different drugs made this way. They are all slightly different and they are all called ‘Spice.’ Anyone making illegal vapes and oils might add one of these powerful drugs to an oil. This is because it’s cheap or proper THC was not available. Whoever then vapes this oil won’t know if it contains Spice, because Spice has no distinctive colour, taste, or smell. However, it can take effect very fast. People who overdose on Spice generally collapse quickly and experience seizures (fits). Overdoses on Spice can be fatal, unlike THC which just makes a person unwell.  VICE explains what it’s like to accidentally vape Spice.

How can I stay safe?

If you vape, try to use vapes and oils bought from well-known high street shops and online stores. These products won’t contain any drug other than nicotine. Just remember that nicotine is still addictive.

Be extra careful if you vape anything given to you by a friend or bought online. Even if it looks like the real thing, it might not be. Anything containing THC is definitely illegal and might contain other substances you really don’t want to inhale, like vitamin E acetate.

Don’t vape illegal vapes for the first time alone. Any illegal vape may contain Spice, but you won’t know for sure until you try it for the first time. If it does contain Spice and you overdose, having someone with you means they can get help.

Don’t all share the same vape in a group. If it contains Spice, you could all overdose at the same time and, again, somebody needs to be able to get help.

Seek help if you need help. No matter where you are, who you are with, or what you have vaped, if you or a friend suddenly feel unwell, call for help. Don’t throw the vape away but keep it safe so it can be checked to see what was in it.