Pubdate: Sat, 07 Dec 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Nancy Lofholm

A FEAR OF MINORS IN VAPOR TRAILS

They can look like nondescript writing pens or asthma inhalers. Some 
resemble lip-gloss sticks and come in the same hot pink or sparkly 
purple as teenage girls' smartphone cases.

Others are bullet-like cylinders hanging on fat gold neck chains like 
gangsta bling. Some come boxed in a rainbow of neon colors looking a 
lot like marking pens.

Portable pot vaporizers-called "vapes" or "pocket hookahs" by users - 
are going hand-in-hand with the proliferation of electronic 
cigarettes and taking the marijuana world by storm. They are so well 
disguised and can be used so clandestinely that they are setting off 
alarm bells with those concerned about keeping legalized pot out of 
the hands of minors.

"This is incredibly concerning," said Bob Doyle, executive director 
of the Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance. "The 
marijuana vaporizing industry is as advanced or more advanced than 
the e-cigarette industry. The products are appealing to kids, and 
they promote the ability to hide marijuana use."

That is "absurd," said Mason Tvert, co-founder of Safer Alternative 
for Enjoyable Recreation. He said the vaporizers have been developed 
as a safer way for adults to consume marijuana without smoking it and 
without creating secondhand smoke.

"These products are not made, marketed or sold for kids," Tvert said.

A 31-year-old hard-core athlete and regular user of a pocket 
vaporizer, who asked that his name not be used, said he agrees with 
Tvert's assertion that vaporizers are meant as a safer alternative to 
smoking pot.

"I do it because it is more healthy," he said. And more easy to 
disguise, he added. "If you have ever tried to smoke on a chairlift 
while skiing, you can appreciate a good hand-held vaporizer. They 
draw little attention, are fairly odorless and work despite 
gale-force winds," he said.

The pocket vaporizers are made up of an atomizer and a battery unit 
that acts as a heater to create a breathable vapor. The batteries are 
charged with small wall plugins.

The fact that the vaporizers are tiny electronic devices with 
chargers like those used for other popular electronic devices 
prompted Rolling Stone magazine, in its June issue, to refer to them 
as "the iPod of getting baked."

The chambers of the vaporizers can be filled with nonpsychoactive 
dried herbs or flavored oils that come with or without nicotine. Pot 
users fill vaporizers with dried weed or with butter, waxes or oils 
that have been processed from marijuana using chemicals such as 
butane to extract highly concentrated psychoactive THC.

"There is serious potency in these," said Doyle.

There are thousands of brands of the devices, with names such as 
Trippy Stix, Vapbong, E-Buzz. RemPen and Puffit-X. Owners of shops 
selling the devices say new ones turn up daily and that the 
technology in the vaporizers is rapidly advancing.

"They came on the market a couple of years ago, and they've really 
picked up steam. It seems like everybody and their brother are 
selling these," said Michael Mahaney, whose wife owns the Headed West 
head shop in Englewood.

Mahaney stressed he does not sell to minors, but he acknowledged that 
vapes are getting into the hands of youths, like many other illicit 
things. The devices are easily available online.

"Kids are going to get whatever they want," he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom