(26 Sep 2019) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus124185
THE LEGAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY IS IN UNCHARTED TERRITORY
AS EXPERTS SCRAMBLE TO DETERMINE WHAT’S CAUSING A MYSTERIOUS AND SOMETIMES FATAL LUNG DISEASE.
IT’S UNCLEAR WHAT’S CAUSING THE LUNG DISEASE THAT HAS SICKENED MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE AND KILLED NINE,
BUT MANY OF THE PATIENTS REPORTED VAPING THC, THE HIGH-PRODUCING INGREDIENT IN MARIJUANA.
INVESTIGATORS ARE LOOKING AT THE BLACK MARKET,
BUT ONE DEATH IN OREGON HAS BEEN LINKED TO VAPES BOUGHT AT LEGAL DISPENSARIES. SO FAR, THE DISPENSARIES HAVE NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED.
AMID THE UNCERTAINTY, RETAILERS ARE SCRAMBLING TO SECURE LIABILITY INSURANCE, VERIFY INGREDIENT LISTS AND PULL PRODUCTS FROM THEIR SHELVES.
SOUNDBITE (English) David Alport, Bridge City Collective owner:
“People are concerned and we’re concerned. I mean we’re concerned about the health of you know our customers and the community and so we want to make sure that we’re putting something out there that’s safe. And so we’ve taken some precautions now to try to vet all of our vendors. So when we when the news broke about the vaping illnesses we put out a letter to all of our vendors requesting a list of all of their ingredients and their additives.”
VAPING PRODUCTS HAVE EXPLODED IN POPULARITY TO MAKE UP ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF THE U.S. MARKET,
WITH $9.6 BILLION IN SALES BETWEEN 2017 AND 2019. ABOUT ONE-FIFTH OF CANNABIS CONSUMERS REPORT USING THEM.
BUT THERE WAS A 15% OVERALL DECLINE IN VAPE MARKET SHARE NATIONWIDE IN THE FIRST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER AS NEWS OF THE LUNG DISEASE SPREAD.
SOME RETAILERS SAY THAT WHILE VAPE SALES ARE FALLING, OTHER PRODUCTS LIKE EDIBLES AND DRY FLOWER ARE NOW MORE IN DEMAND.
INDUSTRY EXPERTS SAY THE CRISIS WON’T STOP THE MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT BUT WILL CERTAINLY LEAD TO TIGHTER REGULATION AT THE STATE LEVEL.
Hillary
“Overall, it probably will not have a huge impact on the momentum of legalization at the federal level hopefully other than to spur the feds to go ahead and regulate because these things fall through the cracks when state governments are totally in charge.”
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