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AN OUTBREAK OF synthetic marijuana laced with rat poison has killed three and sickened more than 100 in the US Midwest, with officials worried about potentially more cases to come.
Synthetic marijuana is made with chemicals applied to dried plant material, and sold in small foil packages with street names such as Spice and K2. It is also produced in liquid form.
Officials in three Midwestern states are raising the alarm over recent outbreaks of illnesses caused by brodifacoum, a lethal blood thinner used in rat poison, which was in the synthetic cannabis that the victims consumed.
At least some of the poisonous drug was sold in Chicago.
In Illinois, a third death linked to the outbreak was reported last week. More than 100 other people have been hospitalised with severe symptoms, such as coughing up blood and internal bleeding.
Sickened
A handful of other people have been sickened in neighboring states – Wisconsin to the north and Indiana to the southeast.
“Each day we’ve seen the number of cases rise,” Nirav Shah, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, warned in a statement.
Synthetic cannabinoids are unsafe. They are not regulated and people don’t know what chemicals may be in them, like rat poison.
The illegal drugs are sold in convenience stores, gas stations and online. Users smoke the drug or inhale it in vaping devices and e-cigarettes.
Police charged three suspects with selling the drug at a Chicago convenience store. Investigators allege the drugs had traces of rat poison.
Fouad Masoud, Jamil Abdelrahman Jad Allah and Adil Khan Mohammed were arrested on 1 April and charged with federal drug offences.
“While efforts are underway to get the contaminated drugs out of circulation, it’s possible they could re-emerge,” Shah said.
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Is the journal going to be like the independent soon that we won’t be able to comment on anything ?
@Scorpionvenomm: Certainly can’t “Shape the News” anymore… maybe they should change the tagline to just “Read our News”
@Scorpionvenomm: I for one appreciate the occasional respite from the endless streams of mostly pointless drivel that we all feel compelled to type and read under the articles.
@Neal Ireland Hello.: compelled? You know you can just read the article and immediately move on to the next article?
@Scorpionvenomm: The law could be changed. but our TD’s are more on the side of silencing the people.
Legalise, regulate, people wish to smoke cannabis let them, triggered? Not my problem. If legalised it could be produced to a safe standard, people be more sure of what they’re buying, but nah let’s just be superstitious, while getting locked in the pub, or at home somehow having some authority on cannabis. Rip to the people, condolences.
Well I think one thing we all agree on is that drugs kill.
Erm most drugs have killed.. Except cannabis, cannabis has 0 medically recorded deaths… unlike:
Paracetamol (drug)
Aspirin (drug)
Motor racing
Peanuts
Exercise
Etc etc
Cannabis is one of the safest substances/activities on the planet, relatively speaking
@john doe: oh yeah.. the guys who smuggle cannabis across US / Mexico border don’t die or get killed? The dealers don’t get shot? No one has ever died because of cannabis. No one has got high and done something stupid and died? Get real.
@BigSFLou..ny: you cant be for prohibition and then use the negative effects of prohibition to justify prohibition, its an incredibly ignorant fallacy. (oh wait actually it appears YOU can)
@Jem Hughes: I never mentioned prohibition or legalise..i replied to a comment about cannabis not causing deaths.
@bigSf
Talk about not understanding your own point.
Read this next statement carefully, it is probably complicated for anyone who references the daily mail as a reliable source:
The reason these people are killed by gangs in mexico or smuggling is BECAUSE it is illegal. Not the substance itself killing them.
My point was the substance cannabis itself has no medically recorded deaths. It has an exceptionally low ld50 rating it is far easier to kill a person using caffeine (yes the stuff in tea) than it is with cannabis.
@john doe: this coming from the person who days most drugs have killed..then paracetamol, aspirin (fair enough) motor racing, exercise … have you got a 10 bag of push ups and a quarter of an F1 lap…ha
@john doe: forgot to get in ounce of peanuts too. Mighty stuff.
@BigSFLou..ny: What on Earth have you been smoking or did you just pop an acid pill? John is entirely correct. Cannabis the plant is totally harmless, you cannot even OD on it. Then heres you spouting off about smugglers being killed??? Crazy. Alcohol has caused huge numbers of deaths by people acting the maggot when drunk. Your analogy love is ridiculous in the extreme.
@Frank Cauldhame: see coroner court verdict mentioned in daily mail article
@Frank Cauldhame: lung cancer from smoking it? Crashing car after smoking it and getting high?
@Free comment ratings: Which ‘legal’ drug that kill would you like to see banned first, just out of curiosity ?
@Frank Cauldhame: ‘act the maggot while drunk’ and no one has ever acted the maggot while high on cannabis?
@john doe: plenty of weed smokers have ended up in phsyatric hospitals
@BigSFLou..ny: Just visit any of our A and E departments and count the number of drunk people waiting for treatment for injuries caused by over consumption of alcohol and then compare that to the number of mildly stoned people in the same position.
@Elvis King: Thats true, its generally not advisable to smoke weed while your mind is still developing, ie your early/mid teens as in can cause mental problems for a small number of people in this age group.
@Frank Cauldhame: …so let’s add to the problem?
@ elvis
Plenty of non cannabis smokers have ended up in psychiatric hospitals.
Causation has not been proved.
That said I’m not trying to make out that cannabis is entirely harmless just that it is far far less harmful statistically than peanuts or horse riding. Yet we don’t ban them.
And as pointed out above cannabis may be harmful to developing brains. Proper regulation would help to educate teenagers and help to limit its availability to that group.
@BigSFLou..ny: Most alcoholics begin drinking in their early teens and look at the destruction that causes and compare it cannabis. I’m not trying to knock alcohol either because most adults treat it with respect but it is legal and it is way more dangerous than natural cannabis which is prohibited.
@bigSF
Yeah ok. Not sure where you are going with all that?
Anyway The basic point is that cannabis is far far less harmful than lots of things that are legal.
In fact its benefits likely far outway its harms.
If the goal is to reduce harm the best way to do this is legalise and regulate.
@BigSFLou..ny: theyve died because ‘prohibition doesnt work’.
@BigSFLou..ny: ah come on. Ya can’t be using any article from the daily mail as proof .
@Elvis King: and plenty of non weed smokers have too. There is evidence that excessive use of cannabis for certain susceptible individuals can trigger mental illness. Not every mentally ill person who used cannabis necessarily had their illness caused by cannabis. When you consider the number of people who use the drug, if it was simple cause and effect, our hospitals would be full of people suffering psychosis but they are not…..
Why would a drug dealer out rat poison in drugs? why kill your customer base?? What’s the business model here???
Luckily methanol poising from home distilled liquor is no longer an issue as it was during prohibition or is today in many countries where liquor is either banned or heavily restricted.
I told ya. I told ya all in shcool dem drugs was mixed with rat poison and yall laughed at me.
@Myk_Oval_Balls_nRyt: To be honest i dont know how to post a link, fentanyl is one of the things its being laced with
Synthetic cannabinoids are human-made mind-altering chemicals that are either sprayed on dried, shredded plant material so they can be smoked or sold as liquids to be vaporized and inhaled in e-cigarettes and other devices. These products are also known as herbal or liquid incense.
@E Cigarette Shop: Synthetic cannabinoids can also be sprayed onto illegal weed, much as antifreeze, and toxic industrial solvents are sometimes added to illegally distilled alcohol in third world countries. You sometimes hear of people going ga ga from illegal skunk. In most such cases, the weed has probably been cut with synthetic cannabinoids. The cannabinoids can be purchased in a highly concentrated form over the dark net, and are smuggled into prisons, etc. These can then be dissolved in solvents, and sprayed onto parsley, etc. This is a big problem in Britain.
As you know, decriminalising, or legalising, and regulating cannabis is the way to go.
@Ryan Dub: (There are new autoflowering feminized varieties of cannabis which are ideal for cultivation outdoors in this climate. Plant sometime towards the end of May, and harvest about 12 or 14 weeks later.)
Cue all the legalise idiots.
@mcgoo: why are they idiots?
@mcgoo: But if we legalised Drugs and taxed it like alcohol and cigarette’s it would be much better. Alcohol and cigarette’s have been such a positive thing for society…. Why cant drugs be as well?
@mcgoo: legalising stops this sort of thing, regulation is the key. Do you think making mars bars illegal makes them safer?
@mcgoo: ya legalise cannabis, not a man made synthetic form of the plant which is actually made from other plants.
@mcgoo: cue failed prohibitionists
@mcgoo
1. This was not cannabis and only exists because of cannabis illegality.
2. This stuff was sold legally in locations where cannabis is illegal (illinois, chicago)
3. With proper regulations contamination usually doesnt happen to legal products but still can.
Should we ban eggs because some have been sold in other countries contaminated with salmonella? Alcohol because some hooch in India killed 50 people?
I find people who describe anyone with a different point of view to them as “idiots”, typically tend to be dim witted and unable to distinguish logic from emotion.
@mcgoo: idiots? Well if it were legal there wouldn’t be any point in making this synthesized crap would there?
@mcgoo: Thanks so much for your contribution. Next time try using your words to form sentences. Then try connecting the sentences together to form cohesive arguments. That’s how people exchange ideas. It’s called debate. Can you spell debate?
@mcgoo: Legalise what? Dangerous synthetic chemicals cut with rat poison added to plant matter. Nah, I think people want to legalise actual marijuana in a bid to prevent this sort of stuff from happening.
@jamie tobin
Its a question of which is the least negative, recreational drugs being illegal or legal…
the majority of tye harm associated with these drugs is because of their illegality.
If you believe making something people want to put into their bodies illegal makes it dissapear, you are wrong. It only seems to make it worse.
Ask yourself do you think we would improve our society of we were to make alcohol illegal? The deaths from poorly brewed high strength spirits, escallation of associated gang crime ee would have a worse sotuation than currently. The same arguement applies to the illegal drugs that people want to and do take.
@john doe: Very well said John. Legalization of drugs, or the drugs we perceive to be worse than the already legal ones, is the logical step.
@Dr Rex Butts: ye..cos there are no black market cigs or booze…
@bigSf
Your point being?
The fact that even in a regulated market, exists a black market is not a reason to make everything illegal and just let the black market look after all trade. As had been done with some substances people want to consume.
It would be far worse if all alcohol or cigs sold was black market & unregulated as is the case with these illegal drugs.
@mcgoo: You do know how easy it is to get cannabis mcgoo? do you? because if you think cannabis being illegal is making it difficult for people to get then you sir are very innocent and naive.
@mcgoo:
There is much less of a problem with drugs in Amsterdam than here. Dutch kids are much less likely to smoke pot, or use other substances.
Allowing people to grow a few plants for personal use avoids the need to purchase from gangsters. It also means people know exactly what they are smoking. People can choose to grow a specific variety, organically, if they wish.
The government can tax sales in coffeeshops, and regulate it, take samples for chemical analysis, etc. It makes money for the state, without the massive out of control gang problems associated with prohibition.
Would you,s still smoke it with your teenage children , not long ago on the comments section people were basically calling someone stupid for telling them that they dont know what weed is laced with, and that they would smoke it with there teenage children
@elvis
The substance in the article with the rat poision in was not cannabis.
Did you even read the article?
The syntethic cannabis woth or without rat poison is a vile substance.
@john doe: Do people smoke it ? Its not only syntethic cannabis that is being laced , weed is allso being laced with a heroin like substance, Google it
@Elvis King: Why should he google and research your outlandish claim, at least have the conviction to post a bloody link to your waffle.
“google it” lol
@elvis
If you google alien sightings you will get lots of ‘evidence’ of that too. It doesnt mean its true.
Again, even if cannabis was being laced with heroin, what is the best way to stop it…
A. Keep it illegal with no regulation controlled and distributed by criminal gangs?
Or
B. Heavily Regulate it, allow it be sold with strict quality control measures and/or people allowed to grow a few plants for personal use so they know exactly what is in it?
@Elvis King: the old herion in weed scare has been doing the rounds for 60 years. Pure reefer madness.
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