Ohio based therapeutic marijuana processors have banned two chemicals from their vaping products voluntarily. This step was taken after a series of reports came to light regarding hospitalizations and deaths due to vaping.
After reports of vaping related deaths and hospitalizations, a group of Ohio based medical marijuana processors zeroed in on two substances that could be the reason behind these cases. It was then collectively decided that these substances would not be allowed in any vaping product in Ohio State.
The chemicals, medium-chain triglycerides, and polyethylene glycol have been voluntarily barred by 15 therapeutic marijuana license holders, which include 12 cannabis processors.
Associate Director of the Ohio Medical Cannabis Cultivators Association, Thomas Rosenberger, stressed that medical marijuana firms have never made use of these chemicals; still, all the firms have pledged that they will be using those substances in their products in future too.
FDA investigators have not yet determined the exact substance responsible for the breathing problem experienced by the victims. Out of the samples tested till December 4, the substances found were THC (the psychoactive element in marijuana), Vitamin E acetate, and a diluting element like medium-chain triglycerides. In Ohio, Vitamin E acetate has already been banned from use in vaping products.
Rosenberger said that they “took a hard look at what should, and should not, be in the product based on what the science said, and what other states had done.”
The medical marijuana sector of Ohio has staunchly stood by the quality of its products and it considers illegal products to be the reason behind respiratory-related hospitalizations and deaths.