The use of vaporizers, or vape pens, has steadily grown over the past few years. In 2018, research conducted by the National Health Interview Survey alongside the Center for Disease Control indicated that 14.9% of adults had used an electronic cigarette or a vape pen at any point in their life. The research also revealed that 3.2% of adults at the time were current electronic cigarette users, with the majority of these individuals being males aged between 18 and 24 years.
Current statistics indicate that roughly one in every twenty Americans uses vaping devices. Additionally, one in three of these users of vape pens use them daily.
The growth of vape pens in the United States provides a platform for medical practitioners to popularize the medical uses of vaporizers. If roughly one in every twenty Americans use vaping devices, what is to say that practitioners cannot direct these uses to medical purposes?
What Are Vaporizers?
You may be wondering what exactly these vaporizers are that many people are excited about. In simple terms, vaporizers are devices that heat substances and turn them into vapor for subsequent inhalation.
Batteries ordinarily power vape pens. A typical vape pen contains a repository where manufacturers place the substance you are consuming. When inhaling, the pen is triggered to heat the liquid inside the repository. The liquid then turns into vapor, which is drawn into the mouth of the user, allowing the user to experience the effects of the consumed substance.
Medical practitioners and researchers are at constant loggerheads about the suitability of using vaporizers. However, the continuous theme is that while vaporizers are safer than ordinary cigarettes and joints, they are not entirely safe for human consumption. Nonetheless, vaporizers have some beneficial aspects, especially in the medical world.
Advantages Of Using Vaporizers In The Medical World
Whether you use an ordinary vaporizer or a CBD vape pen, you will likely enjoy the following applications.
Using Vape Pens For Medical Cannabis
Many states are beginning to legalize the medical application of cannabis and its products. Researchers have noted that cannabis has numerous medical applications, including pain relief, treatment of anxiety and depression, treatment of epileptic seizures, and prevention of nausea.
However, the use of medical cannabis is still relatively new in modern societies. As such, most people entering the medical cannabis industry are somewhat unaware of how best to consume the product for its health benefits. For people such as these, being introduced to vaping could allow them a smooth entry into using medical cannabis. If they can learn to use CBD vape pens for inhaling cannabis, they are likely to enjoy the health advantages associated with the product with ease.
Replacing Needles
Vaporizers stand a chance at replacing needles to administer medication to patients. In current medical technologies, most drugs are taken orally or through injection using the hypodermic needle. While needles are effective in administering the medication directly into the bloodstream, there is always a present threat associated with the use of needles.
Medical practitioners must always be cautious when handling needles and blood. However, there is a threat that needles can spread diseases such as HIV, which is incurable and may deplete the quality of life that a patient is likely to have. Imagine how unfortunate it will be if a patient goes to the hospital to be treated for a routine medical problem only to have their life ruined by a needle.
Vaporizers can be good alternatives to using needles. When you inhale medication from a vaporizer, the drug you inhale directly into your lungs and subsequently through the entire respiration process. Unlike oral pills, which you must digest, medicine taken through a vaporizer is absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Vaporizers can therefore be excellent alternatives for the hypodermic needle.
Nanotechnology And Vaporizers In Medicine
Nanotechnology is a relatively new field of medical technology. Nano-medicine and nanotechnology allow the technological application of drugs and other medical tools to target specific cells and tissues while avoiding the rest. Nanotechnology is instrumental in the diagnosis as well as delivery of medication. The process avoids the risks associated with medication tampering with otherwise healthy cells and tissues.
Using vaporizers to administer medicine through nanotechnology allows the patient to inhale drugs directly into the bloodstream, targeting the specific cells that need treatment. Additionally, as applied through vaporization, nanotechnology can facilitate controlled drug release because the particles will be inhaled into the body through the vaporizer but will only begin functioning when triggered by specific stimuli. Vaporizers are, therefore, revolutionary in the application of nanomedicine.
Also Read: The Effects Of Medical cannabis On Health
Conclusion
While vaporizers and vape pens are often painted in a bad light, there are numerous applications of vaporizers in the medical world. Whether you want to inhale medical CBD and THC, replace the needle, or consider the application of nanotechnology, vaporizers can be ideal. The extent to which the medical application of vaporizers continues to grow is an indication that vaporizers are likely to have wide use in the near future.