Contaminated cannabis

Sunnyisland

Two women are said to be in a life-threatening condition in hospital after consuming cannabis which may have been contaminated or mixed with another substance.
Both are in their 20s and are in the intensive care unit of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth.
One of the women became ill on Monday night. It is understood that she has not regained consciousness since being admitted to hospital and is on a life support machine.
The second woman became seriously ill in the early hours of yesterday morning.
It is believed that the women had taken cannabis.
The side effects they've suffered are not usually associated with this drug.
Gardaí raided two houses in Co Louth, one of which is in Drogheda.
An amount of cannabis is being tested to establish if it was contaminated.
Garda Superintendent Gerry Smith of Drogheda Garda Station said: "We are concerned that other people who use cannabis may suffer the same effects." http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0530/453502-two-in-intensive-care-over-contaminated-cannabis/


As the story above goes ? Wondering how the cannabis could get contaminated ? unless it was home grown and sprayed with some sort of petacide ? First time I have heard of this sort of effect from smoking cannabis.Anyone have any idea,s what caused this ?

Eileen Down

Prohibition

Sunnyisland

Eileen Down wrote: »

Prohibition

Yes it seems to have worked a treat with alcohol last time :rolleyes::rolleyes:

danniemcq

Good job cannabis doesn't make you paranoid about stuff....

cherryghost

This wouldn't happen if cannabis was legal and controlled.

Kettleson

cherryghost wrote: »

This wouldn't happen if cannabis was legal and controlled.

You're not serious?

Did they eat it? Probably laced with rat poison or similar.

Pace2008

Kettleson wrote: »

Probably laced with rat poison or similar.

Why would you pick rat poison of all things?

Czarcasm

cherryghost wrote: »

This wouldn't happen if cannabis was legal and controlled.

Of course it would. This is the exact reason I always encourage anyone who takes drugs or who smokes/ingests cannabis to source their supply responsibly- "from farm to toke" as it were, to borrow a phrase from the food industry.

Chances are as someone else pointed out earlier that it could've been sprayed with pesticides or mixed with any number of toxic substances, and then of course there's the most obvious explanation that the women are just lying about it only being cannabis they ingested.

If you legalise and control it, that only drives the price up and creates an even bigger black market where it can be got from unknown sources much cheaper, the very same as is done with tobacco, alcohol, and prescription medication.

Cody Pomeray

realies wrote: »

consuming cannabis which may have been contaminated or mixed with another substance.

Right, another substance. And yet I guarantee you sooner or later this case will be raised as evidence of cannabis being potentially lethal. RTE have already reported it as being directly linked to cannabis this morning, musing "side effects not normally associated with cannabis", neglecting to point out... the side effects don't come from the cannabis, but from the contamination. Ugh.

It's like saying :two women have been taken to hospital after drinking water", while neglecting to mention "oh yeah, there was e-coli in the water"

Pace2008

Czarcasm wrote: »

If you legalise and control it, that only drives the price up and creates an even bigger black market where it can be got from unknown sources much cheaper, the very same as is done with tobacco, alcohol, and prescription medication.

Of course the black market's always going to exist, but it's a poor choice of words suggesting that it would be "even bigger." For all the products you've listed there the legal sales far exceed those on the black market.

elefant

Czarcasm wrote: »

Of course it would. This is the exact reason I always encourage anyone who takes drugs or who smokes/ingests cannabis to source their supply responsibly- "from farm to toke" as it were, to borrow a phrase from the food industry.

Chances are as someone else pointed out earlier that it could've been sprayed with pesticides or mixed with any number of toxic substances, and then of course there's the most obvious explanation that the women are just lying about it only being cannabis they ingested.

If you legalise and control it, that only drives the price up and creates an even bigger black market where it can be got from unknown sources much cheaper, the very same as is done with tobacco, alcohol, and prescription medication.

Why would you take the risk of buying bad-quality, potentially dangerous cannabis on the black market when it can be safely and legally bought elsewhere?

I've never heard of anyone in the Netherlands buying cannabis from outside of a coffeeshop, and coffeeshops are extremely meticulous in complying to legal regulations.

Squiggle

Czarcasm wrote: »

Of course it would. This is the exact reason I always encourage anyone who takes drugs or who smokes/ingests cannabis to source their supply responsibly

A responsible, trustworthy drug dealer eh who has the users best interest at heart? :pac:

IK09

Regulation, Regulation, Regulation.

aaronbyrne1991

It was probably home grown and a revival dealer tried to destroy the crop by spraying it with something

Kettleson

Pace2008 wrote: »

Why would you pick rat poison of all things?

A lot of these drug dealers will use anything to bulk it up, whatevers hanging around basically. Chuck it in, bulk it up, cut it up, sell it.

Augmerson

realies wrote: »

An amount of cannabis is being tested to establish if it was contaminated.

Probably took another drug with it and that did the damage.

Duck's hoop

Czarcasm wrote: »

If you legalise and control it, that only drives the price up and creates an even bigger black market where it can be got from unknown sources much cheaper, the very same as is done with tobacco, alcohol, and prescription medication.

Massive black market for prescription drugs? Alcohol? Isn't everybody complaining alcohol is too cheap?

And how is the average punter expected to get the details on the provenance of his/her weed? People growing pot tend to be quite secretive and will go to great lengths to ensure nobody knows who or where their product is produced. What with it being, you know, illegal and all?

GalwayKiefer

Kettleson wrote: »

A lot of these drug dealers will use anything to bulk it up, whatevers hanging around basically. Chuck it in, bulk it up, cut it up, sell it.

Dealers rely on repeat business, poisoning customers wouldn't be a good business move.

frozenfrozen

You can bulk up hash or powders, but you can hardly bulk up marijuana? Cut your coke with rat poison, trim your cannabis with...?

godwin

Czarcasm wrote: »

If you legalise and control it, that only drives the price up and creates an even bigger black market where it can be got from unknown sources much cheaper, the very same as is done with tobacco, alcohol, and prescription medication.

Nearly 50 years of regulated coffee shop in Holland prove you wrong.

Kettleson

GalwayKiefer wrote: »

Dealers rely on repeat business, poisoning customers wouldn't be a good business move.

It's common enough for users to die from contaminated drugs, it's more often heroin and cocaine as its easier cut with baking powder, talcum powder and whatever. I take your pont. But they are hardly subject to quality control.

And if the girls have been made sick by cannabis alone, it must have been contaminated in some way and probably ingested.

hey19

frozenfrozen wrote: »

You can bulk up hash or powders, but you can hardly bulk up marijuana? Cut your coke with rat poison, trim your cannabis with...?

I,ve seen ground up glass in grass

Czarcasm

Pace2008 wrote: »

Of course the black market's always going to exist, but it's a poor choice of words suggesting that it would be "even bigger." For all the products you've listed there the legal sales far exceed those on the black market.

Absolutely I agree with you, but I'll expand on it further down below.

elefant wrote: »

Why would you take the risk of buying bad-quality, potentially dangerous cannabis on the black market when it can be safely and legally bought elsewhere?

For one simple reason- because it's cheaper. The same way alcohol, cigarettes and prescription medication is cheaper, as long as you don't want to know where it came from. The more you know about it, the better the quality, the dearer it costs to buy it. The more standards and processes a product has to meet or go through, the more is added to the cost of the product.

I've never heard of anyone in the Netherlands buying cannabis from outside of a coffeeshop, and coffeeshops are extremely meticulous in complying to legal regulations.

Just because you personally have never heard of it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That's the same as me saying "I've never heard of anyone buying drink for underage teenagers in an off-licence, and off-licences are extremely meticulous in complying with legal regulations". Just because you're not aware of it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

There are a number of people that unfortunately are, well, they don't understand the meaning of "moderation", and it's these people that prohibit any hope of cannabis ever being legalised in this country. In the Netherlands it's been part and parcel of their culture for decades, and always when the comparison between cultures comes up, I ask- would you prefer to cycle round on bicycles too?

Picking and choosing from different cultures to try and apply it to our own just doesn't work.

Orim

Kettleson wrote: »

A lot of these drug dealers will use anything to bulk it up, whatevers hanging around basically. Chuck it in, bulk it up, cut it up, sell it.

What the fúck kind of cannabis have you been smoking?

Pace2008

Kettleson wrote: »

A lot of these drug dealers will use anything to bulk it up, whatevers hanging around basically. Chuck it in, bulk it up, cut it up, sell it.

If their goal if profit, why would they not bulk up the product with something that's cheaper? Something that they know will not cause immediate and severe negative health effects in their user base?

I think you're basing your assumptions on the popular notion that cocaine is frequently cut with warfarin. This is an urban myth as far as I can see - I have never seen any solid evidence to verify the story. It is possible that it has happened before, but if it did it would very likely have been case of unintentional contamination rather than a sinister move by amoral dealers. Drug dealers are in it for the money and it makes no fiscal sense to use a potentially lethal chemical when there are other bulking agents out there, like flour, creatine or baking soda, that come at a fraction of the price and are not going to present an immediate health risk to the target market.

Kettleson

Pace2008 wrote: »

If their goal if profit, why would they not bulk up the product with something that's cheaper? Something that they know will not cause immediate and severe negative health effects in their user base?

I think you're basing your assumptions on the popular notion that cocaine is frequently cut with warfarin. This is an urban myth as far as I can see - I have never seen any solid evidence to verify the story. It is possible that it has happened before, but if it did it would very likely have been case of unintentional contamination rather than a sinister move by amoral dealers. Drug dealers are in it for the money and it makes no fiscal sense to use a potentially lethal chemical when there are other bulking agents out there, like flour, creatine or baking soda, that come at a fraction of the price and are not going to present an immediate health risk to the target market.

The production of illegal drugs is not subject to quality control. Any sort of sh1t can end up in them.

Pace2008

Kettleson wrote: »

Like I said, the production of illegal drugs is not subject to quality control. Any sort of sh1t can end up in them.

Yeah. So why rat poison out of an effectively endless list of chemicals?

Augmerson

hey19 wrote: »

I,ve seen ground up glass in grass

The effort to take glass, smash it up and break it down and then add it to weed just doesn't add up.

Esoteric_

hey19 wrote: »

I,ve seen ground up glass in grass

Some people also mix it with Angel Dust. That shít is scary, can cause hallucinations, fainting, severe illness. Don't think angel dust is enough to have caused the women to become quite that ill, though.

Esoteric_

Augmerson wrote: »

The effort to take glass, smash it up and break it down and then add it to weed just doesn't add up.

Weed is expensive. Glass is cheap. Pestle and mortar, grind the glass, mix it in, voila, 20 minutes effort saves 50 euro.

Kettleson

Augmerson wrote: »

The effort to take glass, smash it up and break it down and then add it to weed just doesn't add up.

It's not that producers went out of their way to contaminate drugs with whatever, it's because of the unregulated production process can allow contamination at any stage from whatever source. Some less harmful, some lethal.

humbert

Wasn't there a story a while back of Dutch producers spraying the crop with glass particles to increase weight?

KeithTS

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Weed is expensive. Glass is cheap. Pestle and mortar, grind the glass, mix it in, voila, 20 minutes effort saves 50 euro.

As another user pointed out, grass isn't a powder so how does this work?

Augmerson

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Weed is expensive. Glass is cheap. Pestle and mortar, grind the glass, mix it in, voila, 20 minutes effort saves 50 euro.

Save 50 euro, lose every customer you've ever had. Doesn't make sense.

Kettleson

KeithTS wrote: »

As another user pointed out, grass isn't a powder so how does this work?

Google "what can cannabis be laced with"

Duck's hoop

I actually think the glass thing possible. Some English batches were supposedly contaminated with v fine glass powder, looked like a nice sugar coating. I think it was recorded on a few of the growing sites etc.

Augmerson

Kettleson wrote: »

Google "what can cannabis be laced with"

Google what are Irish people like. See the results. They must be true. It's on Google.

godwin

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Some people also mix it with Angel Dust.

lol so you think that people who grow weed mix it with angel dust , a drug that's hardly available in Europe and looking at american prices works out at about €400 an ounce , they mix the weed with angel dust to sell it cheaper than regular weed?

The naivety :pac:

humbert wrote: »

Wasn't there a story a while back of Dutch producers spraying the crop with glass particles to increase weight?

How does one actually spray weed with glass? and how much weight do you think the glass with add to the weed?

Esoteric_

KeithTS wrote: »

As another user pointed out, grass isn't a powder so how does this work?

No idea, I don't smoke. I've just been told that's what's done by the scumbags in my area.

Esoteric_

godwin wrote: »

lol so you think that people who grow weed mix it with angel dust , a drug that's hardly available in Europe and looking at american prices works out at about €400 an ounce , they mix the weed with angel dust to sell it cheaper than regular weed?

The naivety :pac:

Meh, I'm just saying that a lot of weed you can get nowadays is laced with the stuff. I'm not talking about profiteering, I'm talking about something that could potentially have made the two girls ill. Where did i say anything about PCP being cheaper than weed or lowering the cost of it to produce if they're mixed?

Duck's hoop

Kettleson wrote: »

Google "what can cannabis be laced with"

Google 'third eye calcification'.

godwin

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Meh, I'm just saying that a lot of weed you can get nowadays is laced with the stuff.

How often do you buy weed?

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Where did i say anything about PCP being cheaper than weed or lowering the cost of it to produce if they're mixed?

You didn't I did.

optimistic_

godwin wrote: »

lol so you think that people who grow weed mix it with angel dust , a drug that's hardly available in Europe and looking at american prices works out at about €400 an ounce , they mix the weed with angel dust to sell it cheaper than regular weed?

The naivety :pac:



How does one actually spray weed with glass? and how much weight do you think the glass with add to the weed?

God man...didn't you see Friday?
This guy knows what he's talking about.


This thread is hilarious. It's like watching two old biddies talking about the drugs and what they heard is being put into them.

optimistic_

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Meh, I'm just saying that a lot of weed you can get nowadays is laced with the stuff. I'm not talking about profiteering, I'm talking about something that could potentially have made the two girls ill. Where did i say anything about PCP being cheaper than weed or lowering the cost of it to produce if they're mixed?

Find me a reputable source for this.
Like I said above, two auld biddies gossiping, Chinese whispers, clear lack of understanding.

I Heart Internet

The "legalise it" is a debate is worth having but would suggest that none of the models of alcohol, tobacco, perscription tranquilisers (even codeine) or methadone could be held of as great successes. There are problems with all of them.

But in the absence of legalisation, everyone consuming illegal drugs is risking this kind of outcome (or the outcome that the two young lads in Kinsale had last year).

People can bang on all they like about legalisation, but as it stands right now, most illegal drugs carry the risk, however small, of cathastophic outcomes and fund violent criminals.

Orim

Kettleson wrote: »

Google "what can cannabis be laced with"

Weed being laced with something is very different from the "bulking" that you and others are suggesting.

Sergeant

Lot of spotty Tony Montana wannabes around here this morning.

godwin

Sergeant wrote: »

Lot of spotty Tony Montana wannabes around here this morning.

Tony Montana didn't sell weed.

humbert

optimistic_ wrote: »

Find me a reputable source for this.
Like I said above, two auld biddies gossiping, Chinese whispers, clear lack of understanding.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/6386311.stm

There are many other reports but BBC from the police must be considered reputable.

godwin

humbert wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/6386311.stm

There are many other reports but BBC from the police must be considered reputable.

2007

humbert

godwin wrote: »

2007

Are you planning to serialise the whole article word by word or do you have a point?

There was a suggestion that adding glass wouldn't make sense, this shows that it has been done.