After using electronic cigarettes, a 19-year-old girl in Hanoi had to be hospitalized. The tests found that the sample smoked by the patient contained many synthetic drugs, including substances first recorded by Bach Mai Hospital.

The patient was brought to the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital in July. According to the center’s Doctor Nguyen Trung Nguyen, the girl had used e-cigarettes for six months by the time of hospitalization.

Four days before the hospitalization, the patient felt like someone was watching her and she heard voices in her head. At the moment of hospitalization, the patient had tremors, sweating, arrhythmia and mental disorders.

Of the two e-cigarette products brought to the hospital, one contained two synthetic drugs (ADB – Butinaca and MDMB – Butinaca), while the other contained three substances (ADB- 4 en - Pinaca, MDMB - 4 en - Pinaca, EDMB- 4 en- Pinaca). There were two newly discovered substances at the center.

In another case, T.V.H, 22, from Thai Binh, was brought to the poison control center in a state of convulsions, insomnia, hallucinations, complete anuria, multi-organ damage and risk of cardiac arrest. The patient had to use a ventilator and his brain was seriously damaged.

The patient’s relatives said the young man recently bought and used e-cigarettes named Ampire Chill at VND600,000. He used 3-4 tubes some day. The man could not sleep for 10 consecutive days and was paranoid about other people, even threatening to kill his father and younger brother.

The testing found that the cigarette samples the patient used contained four synthetic drugs, MDMB - 4 en - Pinaca, MDMB - Chminaca, ADB- 4 en - Pinaca and ADB - Binaca.

This was the first time the poison control center had a cigarette sample with up to four kinds of drugs, while one drug alone can endanger life and cause users’ brain damage.

The discovery of addictive substances mixed in e-cigarette e-liquid, causing poisoning, is not uncommon. The Central Children’s Hospital once received a secondary school student in Hanoi with breathing difficulty and convulsions, and was diagnosed with e-cigarette poisoning. The National Institute of Forensic Medicine found elements of some addictive substances.

Doctors affirmed that the drug poisoning cases discovered recently are all severe. They noted that there was only one toxic substance in e-cigarettes in the past, but there are 3-4 substances mixed in today’s samples.

Linh Trang