There is increasing discussion about the potential benefits of using electronic nicotine delivery devices, more commonly known as e-cigarettes and vaping devices, to help smokers reduce or stop smoking traditional cigarettes. However since they have become more widely available to potential users, there has been increasing concern that they may be used by individuals to take a range of recreational drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS). It is possible to use these devices for heat stable recreational drugs and NPS to vaporise them so that they could be rapidly absorbed from the respiratory tract. Currently in the medical and scientific literature there are numerous population and sub-population surveys that demonstrate cannabis users do use these devices for "smoking" cannabis and the synthetic cannabinoids; there is limited information that other recreational drugs and NPS are taking using these devices. There are several reasons why someone may switch to vaping cannabis rather than more traditional methods of use; in particular it is more difficult to detect cannabis use when vaped compared to traditional smoking use and so may make it easier for people to use it in environments where their use would previously have been more easily detected. There is limited information on the potential harms of using cannabis by vaping and in particular whether this changes the amount and/or frequency of use. There is the potential that by using without mixing with tobacco, that vaping could be associated with reduced respiratory symptoms and improved lung function.
Dr David Wood is Consultant Physician and Clinical Toxicologist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's Health Partners, London, UK and a Reader in Clinical Toxicology at King's College London, UK. He has a clinical, research and academic interest in the epidemiology and patterns of use of and acute/chronic harms related to established recreational (illicit) drugs, new psychoactive substances (NPS) and misused prescription medicines. This includes understanding new routes of use such as the use of electronic nicotine delivery devices. He has established a network of specialist emergency departments centres across Europe through the European Drug Emergencies Network (Euro-DEN) Plus project. He is a co-opted member of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and expert advisor to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (ECMDDA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).