E-cigs are being adapted to smoke heroin, crack cocaine and ecstasy to make detection harder
In a recent poll, 39 per cent of people admitted to modifying their devices to vape hard drugs and experts fear it could make prevention harder and lead to addiction and overdosing
ELECTRONIC cigarettes are being modified to enable users to inhale vapour from banned drugs.
People admit using the devices to vape cannabis, crack cocaine, ecstasy and heroin, plus former legal highs such as mephedrone.
Experts fear it could lead to overdosing and addiction among teens and young adults. They warn detection and prevention is harder as users can vaporise drugs discreetly with no smell — known as stealth vaping.
E-cigs, desktop vaporisers and vape pens can all be modified.
Dr Matthew Blundell and colleagues at King’s College London polled 861 people e-cig users. Some 39 per cent admitted vaping illegal drugs.
Up to 2.6million Brits use e- cigs, so about a million may have used them illegally. Rogue substances can be added to water then vapourised, or e-cig liquids containing drugs can be bought online. Other drugs reported as being vaped include ketamine, GHB and LSD.
Nick Hickmott, of Young Addaction, said: “Young people don’t want to use tobacco due to health risks but do want to use cannabis. As such, vaping is increasing.”
