Although vaporization has been around for years, the increasingly popular trend of vaping continues to grow and change: Plattsburgh is gaining a new branch of vaping through the opening of Curaleaf, the new medical marijuana dispensary, this weekend.
Vaping is defined by the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse as “the act of inhaling and exhaling the aerosol, often referred to as vapor, which is produced by an e-cigarette or similar device.”
CASA reported that although vaping devices commonly use liquids composed of propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin-based liquid with nicotine, flavoring and other chemicals and metals; vapes or e-cigarettes can also be used for medical marijuana.
Dispensary manager of the Plattsburgh Curaleaf Craig Bozek said that once customers are granted a prescription and have a mandatory consultation, one of the main products they supply is a vape pen for cannabis oils that release the THC from the vapors under the user’s tongue.
Bozek said that purity and quality control is the biggest difference between recreational and medicinal marijuana usage because all the final products, from the growth plants to packaging, are continually tested for quality, consistency and safety.
“What’s on the label is what you get,” Bozek said. “Leaves and twigs are sold on the street, compared to products that are in their pharmacological active form. What you get from a dealer is always very questionable. Who knows what’s in there?”
Although medicinal marijuana continues to have an ever-growing presence in our country and the vaping industry, nicotine products still reign supreme as an alternative to smoking cigarettes.
Earl Dahl, owner of Plattsburgh Vape Co., was a “two-pack-a-day” smoker before he began vaping as an alternative. After seven years in the vaping industry and one year of owning his own business, Dahl said converting to vaping was a turning point in his life and health.
“I quit smoking and never looked back,” Dahl said. “[switching] certainly made my wife happy. E-cigarettes are a better, healthier alternative.”
Dahl remembers a time years ago when he could barely walk because of how smoking cigarettes affected his personal health. As Dahl currently prepares for an upcoming 4K marathon, he attributes the change of inhaling vapor instead of cigarette smoke as a huge factor in his health journey.
Plattsburgh Vape Co. is one of the many vaping companies in the U.S. that contains a wide variety of customization for customers and their vaping needs and desires.
“There are so many different flavors and devices that it applies to everybody,” Dahl said. “There’s even vape hookahs now. There’s an attachment for vape instead of shisha. There’s something for everyone.”
Curaleaf also has various options for customers who desire a treatment style other than vaping like capsules and eventually edibles in the forms of gummies and lozenges.
Curaleaf opened its doors on Thursday but will continue to have an irregular schedule until the renovations to the building are completed. The dispensary will then have a normal 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. schedule Tuesday through Saturday.
Plattsburgh Vape Co. has many returning customers that possess a pride and accomplishment for leaving cigarettes behind them according to Dahl.
“Quitting smoking is breaking an addiction,” Dahl said. “A lot of people fear quitting. Returning customers are accomplished that they switched over. I have a lot of customers that have said that they don’t know what they would do if they hadn’t [switched].”
Email Windsor Burkland at fuse@cardinalpointsonline.com
