The e-cigarette trend is setting off alarm bells. Products designed to look like everyday items help users conceal drug use and pose challenges to preventing substance abuse among a demographic that has gravitated toward vaping — adolescents.
“They now make vape pens that look like car key fobs you can smoke out of,” says Bobby Betros, CEO of SwabTek, the maker of drug-testing kits that can detect cannabis and other drugs in vaping devices and edibles. “They can look like pens, Magic Markers, even ChapStick containers. So now you have the challenge of first identifying whether something is a vape pen—before you can even figure out if it’s for drugs or not.”
Teens vaping flavored nicotine-infused aerosols marketed with conventional e-cigarette brands have raised health concerns, as the inhalation of vapors can cause lung damage. But Mr. Betros thinks the risks teens face if they vape cannabis to achieve a stronger buzz are just as worrisome.
“They’ve really latched onto vaping and then quickly discovered, ‘Oh, look, you can buy [vaping] cartridges that contain drugs, and nobody will know I’m smoking drugs because it’s just a vape pen.’ And that’s the real problem,” he suggests.
Contributing to that “real problem” is a more potent strain of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound found in cannabis. THC levels have increased as competition has grown for customers in the legal marijuana market.
“Back in the ’70s, marijuana was not that strong,” he claims. “It was 4% or 5% potent. But nowadays, it’s difficult to find something that’s that weak. The lowest thing you can find is 30%. But they have products that are 70%, 80%, and 90% strong. It’s really not safe to smoke marijuana if you’re a teenager. And the reason why is because there’s a link that’s been found between consumption of high-content cannabis products and the developing adolescent brain.”
The frequent use of marijuana, particularly among young people, has been found to cause cognitive impairments, such as memory loss and difficulties with paying attention, learning, and problem-solving.
He believes the legal recreational marijuana market that exists outside of Florida has spawned cannabis-infused vaping and edible products that illegally make their way into the hands of teens. The challenge is detecting what’s really in a vape pen or chewable candy a kid brought to school or home.
Parents and more than 2,500 schools across the country use the drug testing kits that SwabTek developed to determine if vape devices and suspicious-looking candies confiscated from students contain illicit drugs.
Mr. Betros maintains that confirming drug use is an important step to take in helping teens realize that continued use could lead to addiction or more dangerous substances, in addition to health issues.
“The last thing people want to do is arrest students and minors over simple possession, when they’re just starting to experiment,” Betros explains. “The goal is to identify people who need help—and those you can educate—to change their path before it escalates to more serious drugs like ecstasy and cocaine.”
Visit https://bit.ly/MMERIMay2025 to watch MMERI’s Conversations on Cannabis Virtual Forum featuring Bobby Betros, CEO of SwabTek, discuss “Hidden in Plain Sight: What You Need to Know About New Vaping Trends.”
Editor’s note: This commentary is provided by the Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative (MMERI) of Florida A&M University.
