LANSING – Michigan regulators extensively test cannabis vape concentrates but confirm laboratories don’t test heating hardware or analyze the aerosol consumers inhale
Two reported serious health events involving customers of an Ohio marijuana dispensary prompted MITechNews to ask Michigan regulators a basic question:
When a legal cannabis vape passes state-required laboratory testing, what exactly has been tested?
The answer illustrates an important distinction in how cannabis vape safety testing works.
Michigan requires extensive testing of the cannabis concentrate inside a vape cartridge, including testing for potentially harmful substances such as heavy metals, residual solvents, Vitamin E acetate and MCT oil.
But Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency confirmed to MITechNews that laboratories do not test the heating coil or other cartridge hardware.
They also aren’t required to activate the vape and analyze the resulting aerosol that consumers actually inhale.
The distinction could become increasingly important as researchers examine whether metals and other substances can enter cannabis vapor from the vaping hardware itself.
Ohio Investigation Raises The Question
The issue surfaced after the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control began investigating two serious adverse health events involving people regulators believed may have purchased products from Herbal Wellness Center in Jackson, Ohio.
Vext Science, which operates the dispensary, voluntarily closed the location Sept. 4 at the request of Ohio regulators while the investigation proceeded.
The company said its inventory had previously passed required state-licensed laboratory testing and that it was unaware of substantiated evidence establishing that one of its products caused or contributed to either medical event.
The investigation subsequently focused attention on Vapen-branded vape cartridges. The company placed certain products on a precautionary hold and provided samples for additional laboratory testing.
Testing of product from the same lot reportedly found no harmful contaminants.
Ohio regulators have not established that a cannabis vape caused either health event.
On Sept. 17, the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control authorized the Jackson dispensary to reopen.
It was that sequence — serious health events under investigation involving customers of a regulated dispensary whose products had passed required laboratory testing — that prompted MITechNews to ask Michigan’s CRA what its testing system does and does not examine.
CRA: Michigan Doesn’t Test Vape Hardware Or Aerosol
Michigan requires marijuana products to undergo safety compliance testing in their final form.
But the definition of “final form” is important.
“For marijuana products intended for inhalation, final form means the marijuana concentrate in an e-cigarette or a vaping device,” the CRA told MITechNews in written responses provided through CRA spokesman David Harns.
MITechNews asked specifically whether that includes the cartridge’s heating coil and other hardware.
“We are not testing the heating coil or hardware,” the CRA responded.
MITechNews then asked whether Michigan laboratories are required to activate vape cartridges and test the aerosol or vapor consumers actually inhale.
“No,” the agency responded.
That doesn’t mean Michigan cannabis vapes aren’t extensively tested.
They are.
Michigan requires all vape cartridges to be tested for Vitamin E acetate and medium-chain triglycerides, or MCT oil. Mandatory MCT testing took effect Oct. 1, 2024.
The state also requires testing for contaminants including heavy metals and residual solvents.
The CRA’s Scientific Section oversees safety compliance facilities that conduct testing on products sold in Michigan’s licensed cannabis market.
Scientists Are Looking At The Hardware
The unanswered question is what can happen after cannabis concentrate is placed inside a vaping device, heated and turned into an aerosol.
Scientific research increasingly has examined the hardware itself.
A peer-reviewed 2025 study examined six legal-market Canadian cannabis vape products. Researchers analyzed vape liquids and then operated cartridges with a vaping machine and analyzed the resulting aerosol.
Researchers detected particles containing aluminum, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel, tin and zinc in the liquids. Aerosol generated by the cartridges contained particles including cobalt, chromium, nickel, lead, tin and zinc.
Researchers also examined the cartridge components and reported evidence that components of the vaping devices contributed to metal contamination found in the cannabis liquids.
An earlier study of 13 commercially available cannabis cartridges from Washington state found chromium, copper and nickel, along with smaller amounts of other metals, migrating into cannabis oil and inhaled vapor. Researchers concluded the heating device itself could be a source of metal contamination.
A 2025 review examining nine studies similarly found evidence that structural components of cannabis vaping devices can release metals that can reach the aerosol.
But an important limitation needs to be emphasized.
Those studies do not demonstrate that Michigan-regulated cannabis cartridges are making consumers sick. Nor do they establish what caused the two reported Ohio health events.
The research does show why scientists are examining not only cannabis oil but also what happens when the oil interacts with vape hardware.
Michigan Has Considered Aerosol Testing
MITechNews asked the CRA whether Michigan has considered going a step further and requiring emissions or aerosol testing.
The answer was revealing.
“We have discussed this, but it is incredibly difficult to implement,” the CRA said.
Michigan isn’t alone in confronting that challenge.
Other major legal cannabis states extensively test marijuana products for contaminants without routinely activating every vape cartridge and analyzing its aerosol before it reaches consumers.
Colorado regulations go further in recognizing the potential interaction between cannabis formulations and vaping hardware. Manufacturers establishing expiration dates for vaporizer delivery devices must consider interaction with hardware and conduct potency and contaminant testing on the final device.
But that still isn’t the same as routinely analyzing the aerosol produced when consumers use the device.
Developing such testing could require standardized equipment and protocols governing temperature, voltage, puff duration, aerosol collection and acceptable exposure limits so laboratories could produce comparable results.
Michigan Has Tightened Vape Rules Before
The CRA has changed Michigan’s vape safety requirements as new potential health risks have emerged.
Following the national outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries, Michigan began requiring testing for Vitamin E acetate.
The CRA later added mandatory MCT oil testing after determining that although MCT oil is commonly used in food and oral products, aerosolizing and inhaling it may pose respiratory risks.
Michigan regulators issued additional consumer warnings in 2025 because cartridges tested before the Oct. 1, 2024, requirement could still contain MCT oil.
MITechNews asked Harns how MCT products involved in 2025 voluntary recalls could have reached stores despite Michigan’s testing requirement.
“Those were voluntary recalls implemented by the licensee,” the CRA responded. “These products would have been manufactured before the mandatory testing panel was in place.”
That history demonstrates that Michigan’s cannabis testing system isn’t static. Requirements have changed when regulators determined additional testing was warranted.
CRA Isn’t Changing Requirements Because Of Ohio
For now, the Ohio investigation isn’t prompting another change.
MITechNews asked whether the CRA is reviewing Michigan’s vape-testing requirements because of the Ohio investigation.
“No,” the agency responded.
CRA also said it isn’t aware of adverse health reactions involving Michigan-regulated vape cartridges that had previously passed compliance testing.
And when asked whether metals or other contaminants could migrate from cartridge hardware into cannabis oil after compliance testing, CRA said it did not have information on that issue.
The agency gave the same answer when asked whether heating cannabis concentrate could create compounds that would not be detected during testing of the unheated product.
Those are questions scientific researchers continue to investigate.
Meanwhile, the Ohio case remains unresolved. Regulators have not established that a cannabis product caused the two health events, and the Jackson dispensary has been allowed to reopen.
But the investigation accomplished something else.
It exposed a distinction consumers may not realize exists.
Michigan’s regulated cannabis vape products undergo substantial safety testing before reaching dispensary shelves.
What Michigan doesn’t routinely test is the heating hardware or the aerosol produced after the concentrate is heated and travels through the device toward a consumer’s lungs.
Whether regulators eventually need to take that additional step remains an open question.
