It is a known fact that smoking is harmful to health and vaporizing is a wonderful alternative, to derive the benefits from any herbs, including marijuana (cannabis), as it does not produce any smoke.

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco, reveal that a smokeless marijuana vaporizer provides the same level of TCH (active therapeutic chemical) delivering the same good effects of smoking, but without the harmful toxins that are associated with smoking.

According to the study lead author Donald I. Abrams, “We showed in a recent paper in the journal ‘Neurology’ that smoked cannabis can alleviate the chronic pain caused by HIV-related neuropathy, but a concern was expressed that smoking cannabis was not safe. This study demonstrates an alternative method that gives patients the same effects and allows controlled dosing but without inhalation of the toxic products in smoke.”

Researchers were testing the effectiveness of a vaporizing device that heats cannabis to a temperature between 180 and 200 degrees C, just a little lower than the combustion level of 230 degrees C.

Studies were conducted on eighteen people, who were taken in as inpatients for six days. These patients were given three different strengths of cannabis on three different days, three times a day, using two methods of delivery – smoking or vaporization.

The plasma concentrations of THC were measured in all the patients, as well as the exhaled level of carbon monoxide or CO. CO, which is a toxic gas, was used as a marker for many other toxins inhaled during smoking (combustion generated.)

Results showed that the plasma concentrations of THC were almost the same between smoking and vaporization, at all strengths of the cannabis. But the difference lay in the CO levels. As researchers expected, CO levels increased with smoking but there was minimal or in some cases no increase in CO levels, with the use of a vaporizer.

According to Neil L. Benowitz M.D., study co-author, “Using CO as an indicator, there was virtually no exposure to harmful combustion products using the vaporizing device. Since it replicates smoking’s efficiency at producing the desired THC effect using smaller amounts of the active ingredient as opposed to pill forms, this device has great potential for improving the therapeutic utility of THC.”

When these same patients were asked to describe the difference they had experienced between smoking and vaporizing, they said they experienced the same high with both the methods and did not feel any difference.

When asked which method they preferred, majority of the patients were said to have preferred the vaporization method over smoking.

Researchers are happy with the results of their studies, especially keeping in mind the preference of vaporization, which is by far a safer and harmless method.
This should make us aware of the difference between smoking and vaporization and help us in choosing what is good for our health.