E-Cigarettes Are Not Drug Use—But They Can Also Be Used to Take Drugs

E-cigarettes can be said to have a wide range of functionalities; a small atomizer can hold various flavored e-liquids. However, in the hands of wrongdoers, it becomes something else entirely.
Recently, the Weibo account "Customs Release" reported the seizure of 12 "cannabis e-cigarettes" from a mail shipment entering the country from the United States, along with suspected ecstasy pills. The customs even attached a warning: Beware! E-cigarettes are toxic. But are e-cigarettes really only associated with these negative aspects? Is it the "e-cigarette" that is toxic?
Abroad, some people are trying to use e-cigarettes for legitimate purposes. Have you ever thought about using a vape to absorb vitamin B12? They are demonstrating that e-cigarettes can be used not only to replace smoking or to substitute for certain bad habits but also for legitimate nutritional supplementation and even medicinal purposes. Although current medicine is not yet able to determine how much of a drug is appropriate to inhale or how to inhale it properly, this indeed represents a new path in medicine. The concept of "inhalation medication" is referred to as the third method of drug administration. Due to the inconvenience of oral and injection methods, as well as the side effects of some medications (such as painkillers harming the stomach), the concept of inhalation medication has come into people's view. The most common inhalation medication in our lives is nebulization therapy for children's respiratory diseases, which involves atomizing the medication into tiny droplets that enter the lungs for treatment.
This process sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s quite similar to vaping! The only difference is that nebulization therapy uses ultrasonic nebulizers, while our vapes use heated atomization.
Oral medication must pass through the gastrointestinal tract for absorption. For example, vitamin B12 is not effectively absorbed in the stomach; instead, it is partially "wasted" by stomach acid until it reaches the intestines, where it can be absorbed, albeit at a slower rate.
After this process, a significant portion of a pill is wasted, and the efficiency is quite low.
In contrast, the absorption speed of inhalation medication is very close to that of intravenous injections, with high drug utilization. Administering medication through nebulization is convenient and avoids the pain of needles. Thus, some people have started to wonder: Can we use vapes to inhale medication? Isn’t that a ready-made drug delivery device?
As a result, some people began experimenting with using vapes to inhale vitamin B12. Unfortunately, this practice was halted, not because the feasibility of this method was denied, but because it was impossible to control the dosage of the drug when inhaling; too much can be harmful, as the saying goes, "a drug is three parts poison." However, similar uses of vapes have already been practiced. Currently, we can see products in the market that are similar to "energy sticks," which provide simple functional medications. You can think of it as vaping Wanglaoji or Red Bull! Since someone has started experimenting, it will likely attract the attention of the medical community, potentially leading to a feasible and convenient method of drug administration! Who knows, one day we might discover that vaping medication becomes a "trend."
Vapes are a fascinating product; if applied correctly, they can yield unimaginable benefits! While the stigma of drug use and cannabis use is indeed a blemish on vapes, everything has two sides. We shouldn’t define them solely based on their misuse.
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