Late FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday the government needs to regulate cannabis products, after narrates of 450 possible cases and five deaths from a mysterious lung disease linked to vaping.
Most of the patients reported vaping both nicotine and THC, the marijuana come that creates a high, though some reported only using nicotine.
“People who are vaping nicotine and entertaining these reactions probably are vaping illegal products that are counterfeit,” Gottlieb said in a “Squawk Box” interview. “We bear to have a federal reckoning here.”
The states allowing recreational use of cannabis “don’t have proper oversight, so these illegitimate vapes are getting on to the market.”
Health officials are warning people not to use e-cigarettes because the exact cause of any link between vaping and the lung circumstances remains unknown.
Gottlieb, a health advocate, Pfizer board member and CNBC contributor, said the current assurance is the illnesses are linked to illegal vapes containing vitamin E oil — used as an emulsifying agent and dangerous when inhaled.
On Friday, the FDA communicated many of the samples tested by the states or by the agency as part of their investigations contain THC. Most of those samples with THC also carried significant amounts of vitamin E.
“Consumers are urged to avoid buying vaping products on the street and to refrain from using THC oil or tempering [or] adding any substances to products purchased in stores,” the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
Some states budget these products to be sold, but they’re not regulated by the FDA since they’re not nicotine vaping products derived from tobacco.
“These are submission within a regulatory gap,” said Gottlieb, allowing the black market to boom with poor quality products.
— Reuters aided to this report.