California will spend $20 million on a public awareness campaign about the dangers of vaping nicotine and cannabis products and step up efforts to halt the sale of illicit products amid a rise in vaping-related illnesses.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the actions Monday as part of an executive order.

Many of the hundreds of nationwide vaping illnesses appear linked to use of cannabis-based oils, though some people reported vaping nicotine products, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California has seen at least 63 cases and one of the six deaths reported around the country.

At the same time, flavored e-cigarettes made by companies such as Juul Labs are contributing to a rise in youth smoking. The public awareness campaign Newsom announced aims to tackle all forms of vaping, he said.

“As a father of four, this has been an issue that has been brought to the forefront of my consciousness,” he said.

While President Donald Trump and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo have announced plans to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, Newsom said he doesn’t have similar executive authority. But he said he wants lawmakers to send him legislation to do so next year.

A similar effort failed this year, but the lawmakers behind it said they’ll try again.

“We fully support the Governor’s belief that these products should be banned, and we look forward to working with him to pass legislation that will bring an end to this public health crisis and protect the youth in our state,” Sen. Jerry Hill and Assemblymen Jim Wood and Kevin McCarty, all Democrats, said in a statement.

Hours after the governor’s announcement, health officials in central California said a resident of Tulare County died of “severe pulmonary injury” connected to the use of e-cigarettes. The person’s name and age weren’t released.

Most of Newsom’s actions center on the use of e-cigarettes, though he said the state is stepping up its enforcement of illicit cannabis products as well.

A spokesman for Juul Labs, one of the most prominent e-cigarette companies, said the company is reviewing Newsom’s announcement and applauds action to crack down on counterfeit and knockoff vaping products.

“On reported illnesses, we have been monitoring the situation closely,” spokesman Ted Kwong said in an emailed statement. Juul products do not contain THC or any compound derived from cannabis, he said.

Beyond the public awareness campaign, Newsom has directed the state departments of public health and tax and fee administration to explore ways to warn people about the potential dangers of vaping and tackle the sale of illicit products.

He’s asked the public health department to explore new warning signs at retailers and in advertisements.

On the tax side, he’s asking officials to consider changing how e-cigarettes are taxed, because they typically face lower taxes than traditional cigarettes. Making the products more expensive to buy could make them harder for teenagers to purchase, he argued. Juul did not specifically comment on that aspect of Newsom’s proposal or his call for a ban on flavored e-cigarettes.

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration may also try to implement a tracking system on the distribution of nicotine-based vaping products, similar to the “track and trace” program it already uses for legal cannabis.

Such a program would allow it to track the amount of vaping product distributors are giving retailers. The department would then track that against the tax it is collecting from retailers. That would help the state see if retailers are making money from illicit or untaxed products, said Nick Maduros, the department’s director.

Josh Drayton of the California Cannabis Industry Association says the legal marijuana industry already follows rigorous standards and it supports efforts to place those same standards on nicotine-based products.

Cannabis testing labs around the country are adding more specific tests targeting an additive that’s been linked to the string of recent illnesses and deaths health authorities say are related to marijuana and tobacco vaping devices.

Although no definitive cause of the vaping-related issues has been identified, early reports have targeted the additive vitamin E acetate as a possible culprit, and several cannabis testing labs are working to develop methods to flag it if detected.

Cannabis laboratory officials also said the crisis surrounding vaping has underscored the need for industry-wide testing standards.

At Redmond, Washington-based cannabis testing facility Confidence Analytics, Laboratory Director Shannon Stevens said her company is developing a method to test for vitamin E acetate in the wake of reports that more than 450 people had become ill and that some were dying.

“We started working on this pretty much immediately,” she said.

Once her company finishes its work, clients who pay extra to check for additional compounds such as terpene content and pesticide levels will have the vitamin E test rolled into their service.

Edward Sawicki, CEO of Irvine, California-based Think20 Labs, said adding the vitamin E test won’t have an impact on his company’s bottom line.

“It’s not that hard of a test to run, and it’s not that expensive,” he added.

“We’ll probably eat the cost because we want to make sure the product is safe.”

Too Early To Tell

The exact cause of what’s making people sick is not yet known.

What is known is that vitamin E acetate transforms from an oil to a vapor when it reaches a high temperature. When the substance reaches the lungs through a vaping device, it then reverts to an oil state that could sicken the user.

“But it doesn’t hurt to double-check any of the ingredients,” said Ian Barringer, founder of Boulder, Colorado-based Rm3 Labs.

Barringer’s lab is developing a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for detecting and quantifying vitamin E acetate.

He said it will take weeks to develop the test..

At Keystone State Testing, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based cannabis testing company, Kelly Greenland, owner and chief science officer, said consumers should remain assured that products tested in her lab are safe.

But she said she can’t speak for other labs in the industry “because there are no real standards and no oversight.”

Keystone State Testing also will be adding the vitamin E acetate test, said Greenland.

The company also tests medical marijuana in North Dakota as Dakota State Testing.

“There needs to be a significant amount of studies because it’s so new,” Greenland said.

According to Greenland, marijuana manufacturers in Pennsylvania were notified by the state health department that vitamin E acetate has never been permitted in licensed cannabis products.

The recent rash of pulmonary illnesses tied to electronic vaping devices has reportedly caused six deaths and sickened more than 450 people in 33 states, with both e-cigarettes as well as illegal and legal marijuana vaping devices targeted as possible causes.

Here are steps being taken by the federal government and warnings sent out to consumers:

• The Trump administration is preparing to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
• A U.S. House panel plan to conduct a hearing later this month to look into the rash of vaping-related illnesses.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested people consider stop vaping as it investigates.
• California officials called for consumers to avoid illicit cannabis vape pens in the wake of the reports.
• New York authorities also called for consumers to halt vaping.

Testing Deficiencies

Cannabis testing labs don’t typically test how marijuana oil and the compounds that are added to it change after it’s vaporized.

According to Greenland, no state with a legal marijuana program requires labs to test the byproducts of vaping.

Vitamin E acetate, for example, is common in lotions and balms and as a nutritional supplement. But the effect on humans once it’s vaporized is unknown.

“Our lungs have never been designed to contact food-type oils,” said Stevens in Washington state.

She added that testing the product once it has been vaporized is a “complex proposition.”

Sawicki, who operates a lab in Maryland as well as the one in California, also said he’s not aware of any state that requires the product to be analyzed once it has been vaporized.

“It’s just not required now, and I think it’s something that needs to be done,” he said.

Call For Standards

The broader implications of the fallout from the vaping health scare are prompting some to comment on the lack of industrywide standards.

Each state requires labs to test for similar contaminants such as microbials or mycotoxins, but no unified standards govern the entire U.S. industry.

One reason: With cannabis still illegal at the federal level, a government agency such as the Food and Drug Administration can’t oversee how the products are produced and tested.

Barringer pointed out that while Colorado regulators conduct proficiency testing to ensure that all labs are reporting results consistent to one another, the state needs better regulations to ensure manufacturers can demonstrate the products are safe.

“We really need to get the (federal) prohibition ended so we can get these products regulated,” he said.

Stevens characterized the standardization of product testing in Washington state as “generally poor.”

“It’s not rigorous enough,” she said. “It’s been a bit of the Wild West on the vape market, both in the legal and illegal market.”

Russell Krupnitsky, chief operating officer of Keystone State Testing, said the average consumer isn’t thinking about approved, legal marijuana versus black-market cannabis.

He suggests that regulators operate a quality-assurance program where labs test products that are randomly pulled from cannabis retailers’ shelves.

But he cautioned against anyone jumping to conclusions.

“The most prudent thing for the industry to do will be to take a collective breath and wait for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to release its findings,” he said.

His colleague and wife, Greenland, would like to see action taken soon rather than later.

“I’m hoping this is an opportunity for regulators to step up their oversight before someone in Pennsylvania is reported sick or worse.”

Colombia’s leftist opposition sponsored a bill to regulate marijuana as part of a package of legislation proposals that seeks to end the war on drugs.

The marijuana bill of opposition Senator Gustavo Bolivar would end the repressive drug policy of President Ivan Duque, who can only count on a minority in Congress.

Bolivar is one of twelve lawmakers of the opposition and the center right voting block who have been working on multiple initiatives that would end the so-called war on drugs, and seek effective solutions to drug trafficking and drug abuse.

Gustavo stressed that his bill is about “regularization, not legalization” of marijuana and seeks to impose restrictions on the selling and buying of the drug similar to those applied to alcohol and cigarettes.

The bill is “based on evidence and on what is happening in today’s world, in Uruguay, in Canada and in the states of the United States where consumption is already regulated. It has been proven that crime levels are lowered and public health is improved,” Bolivar was quoted as saying by El Espectador newspaper.

What the opposition senator proposed is that the commercial production and selling of weed can only be done by licensed growers and shops. Selling the drug on the street would remain illegal.

Growing marijuana for personal consumption would remain legal.

According to the bill, half of the tax revenue derived from the legal marijuana business will be invested in prevention of drug use, a quarter for a program that would allow farmers to legally grow marijuana instead of illegally grow coca, the base ingredient for cocaine, and the remaining quarter would go to the government body in charge of imposing the regulation.

Like with cigarettes and alcohol, legal marijuana may only be sold to adults. Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana may not be promoted in any way, according to the bill,

Whether the bill will make it through congress or not is uncertain. Duque’s far-right coalition may be in the minority, but that doesn’t guarantee the approval of the remaining senators.