It's certainly not a good thing. Is it comparatively better than other risky activities associated with young adults, such as binge drinking? I think yes.
The deaths caused by the THC oil are definitely nothing to scoff at, but they are more reflective of cannabis' 70+ years as a black market product than they are of the effects cannabis has on the human body. The CDC has determined that a high concentration of Vitamin E was the likely cause of lung failure for the afflicted [1].
In my opinion, this reinforces how important regulatory bodies are when it comes to things that we put into our bodies. If we choose to continuously gravitate towards giving citizens greater bodily autonomy, it is extremely important that we ensure people know what's going into their body and the risks associated with it.
The deaths were caused because vitamin E acetate requires bile salts to be absorbed, which are not present in the lungs. It had nothing to do with THC.
these are teens, it will always be a black market product for them, though. Even if you regulate it, no one should be selling it to teens period. There is no solution to this.