Photo: CC/Chuck Coker

Globe columnist Judy Foreman has a fine piece on medical marijuana, and says, if she need to use the stuff, she’d vaporize:

Vaporizing vs. smoking: The push now among proponents of medical marijuana is toward inhaling the vapor, not smoking. Vaporizing is a safe and effective way of getting THC, the active ingredient, into the bloodstream and does not result in inhalation of toxic carbon monoxide, as smoking does, according to a study by Abrams published in 2007 in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

via The pros and cons of medical marijuana – The Boston Globe.

Vaporizing is healthier than smoking. But, as I noted in a previous post, there is no free lunch: One study (and there have been far too few studies, altogether) found that vaporizing releases toxic gases.

Also, I am concerned about the quality of vaporizers on the market. These are effectively unregulated medical devices, made with parts that–when heated–may expose users to even more crap.