While investigating a spate of mysterious deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations linked to vape pens, NBC News commissioned one of the nation’s top cannabis testing facilities to sample 18 THC vape cartridges obtained from legal dispensaries and unlicensed dealers.
Three of the cartridges bought from legal dispensaries were found to contain no heavy metals, pesticides or residual solvents such as Vitamin E – which should not be inhaled.
10 out of 15 samples from black market dealers, however, contained pesticides containing myclobutanil – a fungicide that converts to hydrogen cyanide when burned.
“You certainly don’t want to be smoking cyanide,” said CannaSafe president of operations, Antonio Frazier. “I don’t think anyone would buy a cart that was labeled hydrogen cyanide on it.”
According to David Downs, California bureau chief for online marijuana publication Leafly, “This all starts in China where you can get the empty cartridges both for the THC market and the nicotine market, as well as the additives, flavorings, and thickeners that are being put into these cartridges alongside the THC oil.” – READ MORE