Safety of Vaping Marijuana vs. Smoking

Vaping marijuana is often touted as safer than smoking it. That's because vaporizers heat—but don't burn—herb, oil, or wax forms of marijuana inhaled through the device. However, vaping marijuana isn't safe in general, and in some ways, it may be more dangerous than smoking weed.

Both smoking and vaping marijuana generally have been considered safer than smoking cigarettes, and safer than vaping with nicotine products that may introduce new health hazards rather than reducing all harm. Some people prefer to vape marijuana due to the milder smell, ease of use, and affordability, but vaping marijuana may not be safer.

Is Vaping Marijuana Safe?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that vaping of any kind can cause or contribute to lung disease. Serious cases of EVALI (electronic cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury) have been linked to vaping cannabidiol (CBD) oil.

CBD products are largely unregulated, so it's possible that the oils contain dangerous substances.

There are studies to suggest that in some ways vaping may be safer than smoking (lower carbon monoxide risk, for example). With what's known about it right now, though, experts say it isn't safe—or even safer— to vape marijuana.

For example, a small 2019 study focused on vaping-related lung damage in 17 people, among whom 71% were vaping cannabis oil or marijuana. Lung injury and illness associated with vaping included:

• Pneumonia
• Bronchiolitis
• Damage to the alveoli (small air sacs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged)

Two of the cases involving damage to the alveoli proved fatal.

EVALI: Potentially Fatal Lung Injury

The risk of damage increases significantly if your vape product contains a chemical called vitamin E acetate. In 2019, an outbreak of severe lung disease from vaping was largely blamed on this vitamin.

In the first few months, more than 2,500 people were hospitalized or killed by EVALI. Among those people:

• 82% had vaped products that contained THC, often along with other vape products.
• 33% exclusively vaped THC-containing products.

The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend against all vaping but especially recommend not vaping THC oil. Even with legal products, vaping THC oil just one time can significantly harm your lungs.

Much remains for researchers to learn about EVALI. Some chest X-rays of people with EVALI show signs of lung irritation by oily chemicals, which could include both vitamin E acetate and THC oil itself.

While vitamin E acetate has been removed from some products, vaping marijuana in general continues to fall under scrutiny. Other harmful ingredients used in vaping products include: 

• Heavy metals: The tiny coils that heat the vaporizer are made of metals that can break down over time, so you may be inhaling heavy metals.
• Carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds: Some chemicals used to suspend THC or make a vapor can release potentially dangerous, cancer-causing compounds when they’re heated. 
• Ultrafine particulates: While there are less than in pipes or cigarettes, vaping fluids do contain tiny particulates that, when inhaled, get deep into the lungs and cause irritation. 
• Flavors: Added flavors in many vaping products contain such fluids as diacetyl, which has been linked to serious lung issues when inhaled.

Flavors and other ingredients may combine to form harmful chemicals when heated.

Vaporizer products purchased from a dispensary may be safer than black-market vape products. However, even where cannabis is legal for medical use, you should still make sure the products you choose are legal and fully tested.

Dispensaries should be able to provide a full report of the product's lab results. Beware of those that don't charge a sales tax or evade other regulations, which may increase your risk of illness or injury.

Risk of Side Effects

Vape products contain concentrated forms of marijuana, which means THC levels are many times higher than in the highest-quality marijuana. That makes vaping them especially likely to cause negative side effects or long-term health problems including:

• Addiction: Marijuana can actually be addictive. About 30% of users are estimated to have substance use disorder.
• Impaired brain function: Marijuana use has an immediate effect on thinking, attention, memory, coordination, and perceptions of time.
• Impaired brain development: Exposure during pregnancy, childhood, or the teen years may impair the brain's ability to build connections, which affects attention, memory, and learning.
• Cancer risk: Vaping or smoking marijuana may contribute to the development of lung cancer. This is especially true among people who also smoke cigarettes.
  
• Driving: Because marijuana impairs your reaction time, decision-making, coordination, and perceptions, it's unsafe to drive after using it.
• Heart health: Marijuana raises the heart rate and blood pressure, so it could increase your risk of stroke and heart disease.
• Mental health: Frequent, high-dose use may cause anxiety, paranoia, temporary psychosis (disconnection from reality), schizophrenia, depression, and suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

Vaping THC oil is linked to an additional set of side effects, especially in frequent users. They include dry eyes and mouth, increased hunger, and feeling sick, drowsy, or restless.

Vaping Marijuana vs. Vaping Nicotine

Smoking anything—be it tobacco or marijuana leaves—is inarguably dangerous to your health. When you smoke, you inhale very hot pieces of debris that irritate the sensitive tissue in your lungs.

Compared to the hot, harsh smoke of burning leaves, the aerosol made by vaporizers can feel much smoother on the lungs. But that doesn't mean they're safer.

Vaping reduces chemical exposure when compared with smoking but can lead to nicotine addiction and potentially fatal lung disease. Vaping marijuana, though, appears to be more dangerous than vaping or even smoking nicotine products.

Types of Marijuana Vapes

Marijuana vaporizers are typically pen-like devices with an opening to inhale the vapor from tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oils, or to use marijuana concentrates made from parts of the cannabis plant that contain high THC levels.

The vape heats the product but keeps it below the threshold of combustion. People inhale the vapor or aerosol, but the lack of smoke doesn't necessarily make CBD vape pens safe.

There are different types of marijuana vaporizers:

• Disposable vape pens: These lightweight pens are pre-filled with cannabis oil and can be used out of the box. The entire pen is disposed of once the oil is used up.
• Refillable vape pens: These pens come with a rechargeable battery and a refillable cartridge to use the cannabis oil of your choice. Some have adjustable voltage and temperature controls. 
• Dry herb vape pens: These pens consist of a heating chamber that you fill with dried marijuana flower rather than cannabis oil. Instead of turning the flower into smoke, it heats it below combustion so that a potent vapor is produced.
• Dual-use vape pens: These pens have both a heating chamber for dried flower and a refillable cartridge for cannabis oil.
• Dab pens: These pens have a coiled heating element that vaporizes cannabis oil concentrates. These include concentrates called "budder," "crumble," and "shatter," which respectively have a buttery, crumbly, and brittle texture.

In addition to marijuana flower and cannabis oil, there are synthetic cannabinoids made in the lab that you can use in vaping cartridges or mix with dried flower.

Safer Ways to Consume Cannabis

You can use marijuana without either smoking or vaping. Where cannabis is legal, you can buy it in many different forms that are considered significantly safer:

• Edibles: Cannabis extract oils or butter can be used to cook or bake any number of sweets, savory foods, or even beverages. No smoke means no risk to your lungs. However, the delay in effects can lead people to take more if they think it's not working. That can lead to dangerous side effects.
• Sublingual: Several forms of cannabis products, like tinctures, are used sublingually (under the tongue) and take effect within 20 minutes. Mouth sprays, tablets, and strips or films also work.
• Suppositories: These products are inserted into the rectum or vagina, where they release the drug as they dissolve. Vaginal uses include endometriosis and menstrual cramps. Rectal forms are used to treat constipation, hemorrhoids, and other digestive issues.

Teens and Vaping

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has warned that vaping is an emerging public health threat where American teens are concerned.

However, since a high point in 2019, vaping use has dropped in teens. During 2023-2024, the CDC reports that just 5.9% of children in middle and high school used a vape device for tobacco. Still, that's more than 2 million youth.

Most teens report using vape devices for nicotine, or flavored products only. However, officials urge teens (and the adults who care about them) to understand the potential health consequences.

Resources are available to schools and families to help them identify vape devices, how they're used, and the safety and health risks they present.

Summary

The 2019 EVALI outbreak, as well as ongoing research, suggest that vaping marijuana is dangerous in general and may actually be more dangerous than vaping nicotine products or even smoking cigarettes.

This may, at least in part, be due to ingredients of vape products, including vitamin E acetate, flavorings, and other additives. Safer ways to consume marijuana include edibles, sublingual products, and suppositories.