The question of whether vaporizers can make users develop lung disease arises from an older thread in a cannabis forum.1 Here, various forum members discuss vaporizing without using their real identities. It quickly becomes clear that most of these cases involve people with allergies who react to pollen. There are cannabis users who have genuine allergic reactions to marijuana and so-called pollen and possibly other plant parts, although THC and CBD as active compounds would actually reduce the problem. Sensimilla marijuana should actually contain no pollen.
📑 Inhaltsverzeichnis
Do Combustion-Free Vaporizers Cause Lung Disease?
Unless it’s asbestos dust, the lungs have defense mechanisms with which they clean themselves. Marijuana stimulates these self-cleaning mechanisms primarily in tobacco smokers, who then begin coughing massively. They do this less when smoking tobacco, since tobacco suppresses coughing. This creates the false conclusion that „one joint is more dangerous than 20 cigarettes,“ because as laypeople we simply draw conclusions as we want to draw them.
Someone who drives through a sandstorm, is present during dusty harvest work, or „swallows dust“ in some factories usually takes no irreparable damage, although coal dust leads to the feared black lung disease and rapid death. Anyone with lung disease should of course not „swallow dust,“ not even when vaporizing, but the forum members involved in the thread and affected seem to be more allergic than lung-diseased. However, those who inhale allergens through their lungs sometimes become sick for several days.
Manufacturers Often, But Not Always, Think Ahead
The thread also shows that those affected don’t simply develop lung disease from vaporizing. They have the problem with some vaporizers and less or not at all with others. Vaporizers that inadequately filter out dust and fine particles are problematic for allergy sufferers, while vaporizers that function like an Aromed with water filter or like the Volcano with balloon are unproblematic. The fine particles are retained by the water or stick to the balloon or on the way there. Presumably the dust content is only reduced, but certainly to under 5%. Even the portable vaporizers described as problematic have a screen to retain dust. But vaporizing is even dustier than when everything burns to ash.
The ash isn’t crumbled further to take multiple hits. Anyone who does this when smoking from a bong, however, is already drawing through water and then it’s less concerning again.
THC and CBD Help with Allergies
When it comes to allergies, these involve malfunctions of the immune system. It mistakenly reacts with defensive responses to harmless substances, even to the point of death.
Pollen allergy, which can also be triggered by marijuana, certainly has no or extremely few deaths and one doesn’t die directly from pollen.
THC and CBD as the active compounds from marijuana would actually tend to alleviate the problem here. Without skin rash and without developing lung disease, these substances could also be inhaled if they are smoked or vaporized as extracts. Recently, BHO wax and shatter as highly potent extracts from marijuana have been making headlines.
It cannot be ruled out that a few pollen or allergenic plant parts are still contained here, but relative to the amount of active compounds, this can probably be completely neglected. Since Sensimilla marijuana doesn’t really produce pollen, it’s more likely other plant parts, but some pollen allergy sufferers seem to react while other allergy sufferers don’t. But it’s not due to the active compounds, which could possibly be used medicinally for some allergies. Anyone currently suffering from lung disease will often not yet obtain such an extract on the black market and should therefore consider a different and less problematic vaporizer or discover baking as a new hobby. However, everything is just a matter of foreseeable time!
Due to a comment, „pollen“ has now become „pollen and other allergenic plant parts,“ but it seems mainly or only pollen allergy sufferers are affected, and perhaps not all or all to the same degree. These logical conclusions are naturally not a scientific study, which was never claimed. Apart from a mild allergic reaction, the marijuana could also be heavily cut or contaminated with mold spores and therefore lead to complaints in sensitive persons or heavy consumers, with special vaporizers perhaps more than with joints or bongs. However, a pollen allergy sufferer who reported to me about 10 years ago had certainly grown high-quality marijuana himself!
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