Rehabs That Allow Vaping and E-Cigarettes: Smoking In Drug Rehab

If you vape or use e-cigarettes and are considering pursuing addiction treatment, you may be wondering if you’ll be allowed to continue using your vape while in rehab. Each rehab center has different rules, so it’s important to ask questions about what’s allowed for nicotine use before starting a program. Understanding what vaping is and what role it can play in substance misuse and treatment can help you decide if it should be part of your future.

Vaping is when someone inhales and exhales aerosol (vapor) from a vaporizer (“vape”), e-cigarette or vape pen. Unlike traditional cigarettes, vaping doesn’t create tobacco smoke. Instead, it creates tiny particulates in the form of vapor.

Vapes typically consist of a cartridge containing vape liquid, a battery, a mouthpiece and an atomizer, which is the device that heats the liquid to turn it into vapor. The battery powers the heating component when the mouthpiece is inhaled, releasing vapor into the user’s mouth.

Most vapes contain e-liquid, also called e-juice, which is a mixture of nicotine and either vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol. There may be other chemicals and flavors to make the vapor taste better. Vapes can also be used to smoke marijuana in liquid form or ingest other drugs, such as flakka.

Just as with more traditional ways to ingest nicotine, vaping and using e-cigarettes can create a dependence. Once you’re addicted, it can be difficult to go without vaping for even a few hours. For this reason, people who already vape before going into an addiction rehab program will likely want to continue vaping to prevent withdrawal symptoms and reduce stress during treatment.

Rules for nicotine use vary by facility, but smoking traditional cigarettes is more accepted than vaping or e-cigarettes. Cigarettes have long been associated with recovery. 

In early rehab centers and AA meetings, there were countless people sitting around drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking pack after pack of cigarettes. While our knowledge and communal acceptance of the ill effects of cigarettes and tobacco have certainly evolved, cigarette use is still widely seen in rehab facilities all over the United States.

The situation with vaping is slightly different. While some people do choose to use vapes for the sole purpose of ingesting nicotine as you would a cigarette, others use vapes to ingest drugs like delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cocaine, heroin and other illicit substances. This makes allowing vaping in a rehab center highly controversial and potentially dangerous for patients.

Imagine a client brings in a vape filled with marijuana juice. While that particular client may not have an addiction to marijuana, the person they share a room with may. Using the marijuana vape around them could result in the roommate relapsing and being kicked out of treatment due to exposure to their drug of choice.

Unlike cigarettes, there’s no way to quickly verify what’s in a vape or e-cigarette. So, what looks like a normal, nicotine-based vape could actually contain an illicit drug or other prohibited substance. For this reason, rehab centers often don’t allow vapes or e-cigarettes but do permit the use of traditional cigarettes on their campuses.

If you’re unsure whether the rehab center you plan on attending allows vaping, call ahead to ask about the rules and whether they can help you quit nicotine while you’re in the program.

Even if the rehab you’re attending allows vaping, it’s still important to consider whether continuing to use nicotine should be part of your recovery plan. Nicotine can trigger some people to want to use other drugs or alcohol, especially if they used to combine the two before starting treatment.

When someone has a long history of drinking and vaping at the same time, for example, smoking can subconsciously trigger a desire to drink. This means smoking and vaping can ultimately be detrimental to your recovery from alcohol or another substance use disorder.

Vaping can also have negative health consequences, such as:

• Lung scarring from chemicals in vape liquids
• Respiratory challenges, including decreased lung capacity and increased risk of asthma
• Increased blood pressure and risk of heart disease
• Higher chance of developing cancer
• Increased risk of nicotine poisoning from accidental overdose

Anything that could put your physical or mental health at risk goes against the goal of addiction recovery, which is why some rehabs prohibit vaping and smoking during treatment. 

Nicotine is addictive, and quitting can be difficult. Stopping nicotine use in rehab means you have more resources around you to manage withdrawal symptoms and support your physical and emotional well-being. However, there is no rule that states you have to quit all substances at once, and quitting and recovering from one substance use disorder can be challenging enough on its own. Ultimately, it’s your decision if you want to continue to use nicotine while in rehab and whether you need to look for a facility that allows smoking or vaping. 

If you have questions about which drug and alcohol rehabs allow vaping or whether you should continue using nicotine while in substance use treatment, contact RehabNet.com to help you find an addiction rehab facility that’s right for you.