Are Weed Pens Safe or Dangerous to Use?

Weed pens, also known as cannabis vape pens, have become increasingly popular in recent years as a discreet and convenient way to consume marijuana.

However, with the rise in popularity of weed pens, there have been concerns about their safety. Especially if you are considering switching from smoking to vaping marijuana.

Are weed pens safe or dangerous to use? What are the Health Risks of Vaping Weed? What's less harmful, vaping weed or smoking the flower?

Don't Worry! This article will answer these questions in detail. Keep reading to learn more about the weed pens, and the various health risks that it carries.

What is a Weed Pen? Different Types?

A weed pen is a handheld electronic device that heats up the herb, oil, or wax forms of cannabis to create an aerosol for you to breathe in.

You breathe the vapor into your mouth from the mouthpiece, where they go down your throat and into your lungs.

The battery-operated devices come in many forms, with varying amounts of portability, strength, and vapor emitted. Sometimes they can look like conventional pens or even sleek tech gadgets.

Not all marijuana vape pens are created equal. In fact, you can find three different types of weed pens on the market.

1. Oil Vape pens

Vape pens use a pre-filled vape cartridge that contains Concentrated cannabis oil.

When you press the button, the cannabis oil is heated until the therapeutic cannabinoids and terpenes begin to evaporate, producing the vapour you inhale.‍

2. Dry Herb Vaporizers

Dry Herb Vaporizers work in a similar way, except they extract the cannabinoids and terpenes directly from the dried flower of the cannabis plant.

Instead of burning the flower, the vape will heat it to the point where its vapors are released.

3. Wax Pens

The Wax vape pens (aka dab pens) are designed to vaporize concentrates like Budder, shatter, crumble, Wax, etc, otherwise known as dabbing.

The dab pen heats the nail inside, and you carefully scoop your concentrate onto that nail.

Once it contacts the hot surface, it will start to vaporize, and all you have to do is inhale and enjoy.

Are Weed Pens Safe or Dangerous to Use?

The process of vaping involves heating cannabis to a temperature that turns its active compounds into vapor. This vapor is then inhaled, providing a rapid delivery of the psychoactive compound, THC, into the bloodstream.

Some people believe that alternatively using a marijuana vaporizer for inhalation reduces the health risks associated with smoking and makes inhaling the drug safer as you don't get any of the combusted plant material carcinogens.

However, inhaling marijuana through a vaporizer also poses serious risks to your health, including Harmful Ingredients, Breathing Issues, Cardiovascular problems, Marijuana Addiction, psychological health and more.

In addition, Vaping marijuana concentrates or Concentrated oil, the effects may be more physically or psychologically intense than just smoking plant material since the product is highly potent.

In fact, marijuana concentrates or Concentrated oil contain 40% to 80% THC, which is significantly higher than high-grade marijuana flower that typically measures about 20% THC.

Vaping vs. Smoking Weed: Which is Safer, healthier and Better?

Vaporizing has been proven for years to be a much healthier alternative to smoking, and often produces near instantaneous effects.

Combusting, or burning cannabis creates many toxins and carcinogens that disturb the respiratory system.

Vaporization, on the other hand, is a smokeless method that heats cannabis a much lower temperature, releasing cannabinoids and terpenes into a vapor without the harmful by-products.

Vaporization also preserves many of the unique flavors and nuanced effects in cannabis flowers and concentrates.

Combustion tends to burn off many of the naturally occurring components that govern variation in cannabis aromas, flavors and psychotropic effects.

Whether you’re smoking or not, the flower keeps burning. It also creates a lot more secondhand smoke, and reeks up your hair, clothes, face, and hands much more.

Weed vaporizers can help you make better decisions around dosage and can produce more potent effects than smoking a joint, so you don't need to consume as much herb in order to get high.

The Side Effects and Health Risks of Vaping Weed

There are several dangers of marijuana vape pens and some still have yet to be discovered.

1. Harmful Ingredients

Vaporised cannabis contains many other harmful ingredients than just THC that may negatively affect your physical health.

This is because the regulation surrounding ingredient lists in most vaping products simply aren’t related enough.

Remains: There are residual irritants, solvents and pesticides of cannabis plants being taken into the body through vapors that can have serious health consequences.

Heavy Metals: The metal components that heat the vape liquid may release harmful elemental metals, including nickel, chromium and lead, which can then be transported into the aerosol and deposited into the user’s body.

Additive: Vitamin E acetate is a sticky oil substance often added to vaping products to either thicken or dilute the THC or CBD oil in cartridges. It has been known to pose a dangerous lung disease called EVALI.

2. Respiratory Problems and Lung Injuries

Vaping cannabis can irritate your lungs and cause respiratory problems, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, but not to the same degree as vaping marijuana.

3. Cardiovascular Problems

Vaping cannabis can also have negative effects on your heart and blood vessels, increasing your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems.

4. Mental Health Problems

Cannabis vaping is associated with an increase in the amount of cannabis consumed when compared with other modes of consumption.

The consumption of high-potency forms of cannabis through vaping has been linked to an increased risk of mental health problems, such as anxiety, paranoia, depression, schizophrenia, and psychosis.

5. Marijuana Addiction

Vaping can be highly addictive, as THC is a highly addictive substance that can lead to dependence and withdrawal symptoms.

The dependency on vaping let a person feel unable to control their thoughts about the drug. Normal life begins to feel impossible as getting the next dose is the controlling motive in that person’s life.

Withdrawing from regular cannabis use can lead to symptoms that include trouble sleeping, shifts in mood, and sleep disturbances.

6. Impaired brain function & development

Marijuana use has an immediate effect on thinking, attention, memory, coordination, and perceptions of time.

The human brain continues developing through age 25. Thus, marijuana use during adolescence and young adulthood may affect this development and can lead to impaired attention, learning and memory by impacting how the brain builds connections between the areas necessary for these functions.

7. Cognitive impairment

Vaping marijuana can impair your reaction time, decision-making, coordination, and perceptions.

For example, This can produce mild driving impairment after inhalation, causing poorer vehicle control and slower reaction time, so it's unsafe to drive after using it.

8. Catch Fire or Explode

Weed pens use removable lithium-ion battery are potentially dangerous that can catch fire, and can spread quickly.

Devices, particularly those that are modified or of poor quality, have a risk of exploding, which can cause burns or projectiles.

Conclusion

Although vaping sounds more innocuous than traditional smoking cannabis, inhaling marijuana through a vaporizer doesn’t protect you from negative health effects.

The respiratory system is still at risk when vaping marijuana along with the other risks that accompany marijuana use, including Harmful Ingredients and more.

Additionally, With vaping cannabis on a rise, the current known health risks and associated risks with vaping cannabis cannot be ignored.

More research and education is needed to educate people especially our young ones on the dangers of vaping cannabis.

To let you know, Other safer ways to consume marijuana include edibles, sublingual products, and suppositories.