Massachusetts regulators quarantine medical vape products as ban expires

The state’s Cannabis Control Commission has quarantined medical marijuana vaping products as the state agency said it will seek to test the substances. 

The commission had indicated last week that it could order retail shops and dispensaries to quarantine products if Gov. Charlie Baker’s ban on medical marijuana vapes expired this week. On Tuesday the commission took action, instituting a quarantine on marijuana oil products such as vape pens, vape cartridges, aerosol products, and inhalers. 

The commission’s quarantine isn’t as broad as the governor’s ban. The commission will allow vaping of marijuana flower, which marijuana advocates say is not as effective as vaping oil.

The commission said in a release that the quarantine is necessary after the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention found on Friday that many of the vaping illnesses were tied to a substance called vitamin E acetate.

“The Commission’s existing testing regulations and protocols do not require testing for vitamin E acetate,” the commission said in its Tuesday release. “Based on current manufacturing processes, it is possible that legal marijuana products sold in the state could contain vitamin E acetate or other potential ingredients of concern. As part of the Commission’s quarantine order issued Tuesday, licensed Marijuana Establishments and Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers are required to quarantine products on administrative hold in the state’s mandated seed-to-sale tracking system of record.” [Read More @ Boston Business Journal]