The Missouri chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is pushing back on the state’s new regulations that allow higher levels of potentially toxic vitamin E acetate in cannabis products, including vape cartridges.
Missouri’s marijuana authorities in July increased the permitted limit for vitamin E acetate in regulated marijuana products from 0.2 parts per million to 5 parts per million, raising concern among industry stakeholders.
‘Not naturally in cannabis’
In an op-ed published in the Columbia Missourian, NORML’s board chair and Missouri coordinator, Dan Viets, wrote that “vitamin E acetate does not naturally occur in organic cannabis. If it is there, it is (present) only because someone has intentionally put it into the product.
“The addition of this product is usually for the purpose of increasing the marketability of the product by giving it a greater viscosity,” he continued.
“Vitamin E acetate should never occur in any amount in a legal and regulated cannabis product.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that vitamin E acetate was likely behind the so-called e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), which killed nearly 70 people and resulted in the hospitalization of more than 2,500 vaping consumers.
Viets also noted that vitamin E acetate does not naturally occur in organic cannabis and is added to increase the marketability of the product by creating greater viscosity.
“Vitamin E acetate should never occur in any amount in a legal and regulated cannabis product,” he wrote in the op-ed.
Regulated operators provide safe products
NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano also chimed in, saying state-regulated marijuana markets are designed to provide consumers with product purity and safety.
“Given what we know about this additive and its role in the EVALI public health crisis, there is no rational basis for this decision,” Armentano said.
“This decision greatly undermines these public health goals.”
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