In Pueblo, Colorado, teenager Noah had smoked marijuana before. But most of his friends were using an extra-strong version, known as dabs. Thinking it might help with the insomnia that plagued him in his senior year of high school, Noah picked up a small torch, grabbed the glass smoking device known as a dab rig and heated a yellow, waxy substance into a vapor that he slowly inhaled.
For around two years, Noah, who’s now 24 years old, said the habit made him feel great. The type of marijuana he was loading as many as five times a day into a ...