Contaminated cannabis

whitesands

zenno wrote: »

HUH ^. Do you have proof of this ? how do you know they took something else ?. It was contaminated cannabis is all i heard.

No I don't have proof, common sense though. How come nobody else got hospitalised but 2 friends?
Also, what would it be contaminated with that leads to organ failure, were talking resin here.

Odysseus

Kettleson wrote: »

Thanks for that. I wonder are there any stats for poisoning/serious illness/near fatal cases caused by drug contamination?

Not that I am aware of, the only stats I'm aware off would be one that covers drug related deaths, such as ODs etc. On average we put out contaminated alerts approx 4-6 times a years.

jam_mac_jam

This sounds a bit fishy to me.

Kettleson

Odysseus wrote: »

Not that I am aware of, the only stats I'm aware off would be one that covers drug related deaths, such as ODs etc. On average we put out contaminated alerts approx 4-6 times a years.

Well there's another 2 now for this year unfortunately. Hard to believe it's that low. Are these figures from HSE sources?

zenno

Only two people had a severe reaction to this. Maybe they were just allergic to that particular weed/hash whatever they smoked because you would think more people would have been affected if there was a batch going around, we'll see in two day's after they test the stuff.

I am pie

Maybe they ate some of it, brownies, yoghurts or whatever...whatever it has been bulked up with might have been poisonous. Genuinely never heard anything like it before, it's not like the govt wouldn't push a good scare story if it had happened.

Organ failure sounds terminal, I pray that it isn't and these girls live to tell the tale. Poor girls.

Odysseus

Kettleson wrote: »

Well there's another 2 now for this year unfortunately. Hard to believe it's that low. Are these figures from HSE sources?

Well I'm only giving you my experience, as for alerts we get them passed from Public Health, and pass the info out to clients and other agencies.

I work for the HSE, but there is no offical report that I know of to quote that.

As to alerts, why do you think it is low?

Whereas certain drugs are bulked out with cheaper materials, it is not common in my experience for drugs to be contaminated with dangerous substances that will cause serious ill health.

As others have pointed out, drugs are a repeat business, if you posion your customers you lose money and custom.

withless

'contaminated'? cannabis'? shurley by its nature its just poison?

My name is URL

whitesands wrote: »

No I don't have proof, common sense though. How come nobody else got hospitalised but 2 friends?
Also, what would it be contaminated with that leads to organ failure, were talking resin here.

Maybe they were particularly sensitive to the contaminant? Nobody knows what the story is yet, or what chemical / adulterant is responsible, so calling bull**** on it all is just as silly as claiming to know that it could in no way be due to the hash or weed, or that they must have taken other drugs.

zenno

Some lazy growers use a lot of chemicals in the growing of cannabis and some of these growers do not flush the plant when it is at the end of it's flowering life and even this could cause some serious bad reactions from the chemicals if not clean flushed properly.

Kettleson

Odysseus wrote: »

Well I'm you my experience, as for alerts we get them passed from Public Health, and pass the info out to clients and other agencies.

I work for the HSE, but there is no offical report that I know of to quote that.

As to alerts, why do you think it is low?

Whereas certain drugs are bulked out with cheaper materials, it is not common in my experience for drugs to be contaminated with dangerous substances that will cause serious ill health.

As others have pointed out, drugs are a repeat business, if you posion your customers you lose money and custom.

Why do I think its low? Because it is low. As a "professional" I cant believe you've bought into that "poison your customers" bull****. Illegal drug manufacturers are not bothered particularly about the longevity of their trading reputation, especially those that will flood the market with sh1t, make a quick "killing" and disappear.

"Fine Purveyors of quality liquid crack" I think not.

Capt'n Midnight

mikom wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pace2008
No, it is literally impossible. LSD is a very fragile chemical that degrades at room temperature if left for any length of time.





Are you saying there is LSD in Hash brownies?

Pace2008 was saying that LSD wouldn't ever be an issue because it would decompose if you tried to smoke it

I was just showing that there are other ways of consuming cannabis besides smoking.

nibble

I'd be willing to put a substantial wager on the fact that the hash was laced with a synthetic cannabinoid. Most likely one of those that has appeared in the last couple of years as opposed to those that were around readily 4-5 years ago.

For anyone that doesn't know what a synthetic cannabinoid is, put simply they are chemicals that mimic the effect of THC (the primary active component in cannabis sativa) in the body but are not necessarily chemically related to it, thereby formerly bypassing drug laws and allowing them to be sold in head-shops as components of "smoking blends" several years ago.

There have been several reports over the past few years in the medical literature of acute organ failure and similar after ingestion of some of these chemicals. However whether it was/is the chemicals themselves that caused these severe reactions or impurities of e.g. heavy metals that were used in their production isn't clear in many of the cases. If they both ingested it in some way (cookies/brownies etc) then I would see that supporting the heavy metal or similar hypothesis because smoking wouldn't allow the metal contaminants to be taken in easily. If they even are the contaminant of course.
It would seem to be quite a rare reaction in the case that it isn't to do with contamination from production but rather the synthetic chemicals themselves, because I would guess that many, many thousands of Kg's of them have been consumed in the past 5-6 years. Difficult to know..

Why cut hash with them? Simply because they are potent, cheap and will make poor quality/fake hash seem very strong. Could similarly be done to bud by solvent dissolution and then spraying and drying. A regular cannabis smoker would be able to distinguish the effect from actual/unlaced cannabis though, different sort of (although quite similar) "high".

Odysseus

Kettleson wrote: »

Why do I think its low? Because it is low. As a "professional" I cant believe you've bought into that "poison your customers" bull****. Illegal drug manufacturers are not bothered particularly about the longevity of their trading reputation, especially those that will flood the market with sh1t, make a quick "killing" and disappear.

"Fine Purveyors of quality liquid crack" I think not.

Back up a tad will you, what do you mean as a professional, exactly what was unprofessional about my post?

How do you know so much about illegal drug manufacturers? I'm starting to think you know very little about addiction and drug Ireland, especially as you can't answer a basic question.

mattjack

Odysseus wrote: »

Back up a tad will you, what do you mean as a professional, exactly what was unprofessional about my post?

How do you know so much about illegal drug manufacturers? I'm starting to think you know very little about addiction and drug Ireland, especially as you can't answer a basic question.

Looks like he's gone to bed.

steddyeddy

whitesands wrote: »

This has feck all to do with hash, the pair of them obviously took something else, contaminated hash leads to organ failure, get a grip :rolleyes:

It is contaminated hash by all accounts?

whitesands

steddyeddy wrote: »

It is contaminated hash by all accounts?

I very much doubt it, I'm not even sure how it's possible to contaminate hash to lead to someone getting organ failure from smoking it.
It's probably the worlds 1st & 2nd hash contaminated OD's ever recorded, hmmm, well done RTE.

steddyeddy

whitesands wrote: »

I very much doubt it, I'm not even sure how it's possible to contaminate hash to lead to someone getting organ failure from smoking it.
It's probably the worlds 1st & 2nd hash contaminated OD's ever recorded, hmmm, well done RTE.

A synthetic alternative to cannabis perhaps? That's what my moneys on. It would be very easy to contaminate something with that.

rolliepoley

Smokeing too much of the new bonzi.

If it looks like normal grass seed, thats it.

whitesands

All hash is contaminated, just with crap.
Even if someone did put a synthethic cannabanoid in (wtf) your still not getting organ failure.

This thread is ridiculous & so are RTE for their big alert.

steddyeddy

whitesands wrote: »

All hash is contaminated, just with crap.
Even if someone did put a synthethic cannabanoid in (wtf) your still not getting organ failure.

This thread is ridiculous & so are RTE for their big alert.

There are thousands of chemicals that cause organ failure. No one's blaming the actual cannabis here. Something must have been added to it otherwise how do you explain the organ failure?

whitesands

steddyeddy wrote: »

There are thousands of chemicals that cause organ failure. No one's blaming the actual cannabis here. Something must have been added to it otherwise how do you explain the organ failure?

Headshop crap, ie mephedrone etc it wasn't a joint anyway.

steddyeddy

whitesands wrote: »

Headshop crap, ie mephedrone etc it wasn't a joint anyway.

Yet the gaurds and the HSE are issuing warnings about contaminated cannabis?

whitesands

steddyeddy wrote: »

Yet the gaurds and the HSE are issuing warnings about contaminated cannabis?

ye, it's ridiculous. It will be interesting to hear the real story when it comes out.

B.A._Baracus

cherryghost wrote: »

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

Why did this post get so many thanks?
Being honest, it's a silly thing to say. Alcohol is legal and still gets spiked. This hash was spiked with something (or at this point it's believed to have) So legal or illegal it doesnt matter - someone can still put something in it.

nibble

whitesands wrote: »

All hash is contaminated, just with crap.
Even if someone did put a synthethic cannabanoid in (wtf) your still not getting organ failure.

This thread is ridiculous & so are RTE for their big alert.

As I said in my post in the previous page there are several reports of multiple and single acute organ failure in recent years that appear to be directly related to solely consumption of synthetic cannabinoid chemicals. These reports are scientific, medical papers published in peer reviewed literature.

There are verified accounts of chronic cadmium (a toxic heavy metal) poisoning due solely to consumption of synthetic cannabinoids. The cadmium was present as an impurity due to the nature of the synthesis (chemical production process) employed; a cadmium containing catalyst was most likely utilised. Heavy metal catalysts and similar are widely made use of in synthetic organic chemistry, but they are highly toxic and if the chemical is intended for human use then it must be highly purified. This does not take place to the extent necessary in the mostly Chinese, semi-underground laboratories that produce these chemicals extremely cheaply.

There is nothing ridiculous about any of this, aside from a variety of uninformed, speculative and plainly incorrect comments.

EoghanIRL

nibble wrote: »

As I said on my post in the previous page there are several reports of multiple and single acute organ failure in recent years that appear to be directly related to just consumption of synthetic cannabinoid chemicals. These reports are scientific, medical papers published in peer reviewed literature.

There are verified accounts of chronic cadmium (a toxic heavy metal) poisoning due solely to consumption of synthetic cannabinoids. The cadmium was present as an impurity due to the nature of the synthesis (chemical production process) employed; a cadmium containing catalyst was most likely utilised. Heavy metal catalysts and similar are widely made use of in synthetic organic chemistry, but they are highly toxic and if the chemical is intended to for human use then it must be highly purified. This does not really take place in the mostly Chinese, semi-underground laboratories that produce these chemicals extremely cheaply.

There is nothing ridiculous about any of this, aside from a variety of uninformed, speculative and plainly incorrect comments.

Lay off breaking bad for a bit

Jimoslimos

nibble wrote: »

There are verified accounts of chronic cadmium (a toxic heavy metal) poisoning due solely to consumption of synthetic cannabinoids. The cadmium was present as an impurity due to the nature of the synthesis (chemical production process) employed; a cadmium containing catalyst was most likely utilised. Heavy metal catalysts and similar are widely made use of in synthetic organic chemistry, but they are highly toxic and if the chemical is intended for human use then it must be highly purified. This does not take place to the extent necessary in the mostly Chinese, semi-underground laboratories that produce these chemicals extremely cheaply.

There is nothing ridiculous about any of this, aside from a variety of uninformed, speculative and plainly incorrect comments.

Yes speculative comments all round, yourself included. Quite what heavy metal contamination has to do with sudden acute organ failure I don't understand. These are generally bio-accumulative and cause chronic illness over a longer period of time.

I know public health authorities have to cover all possibilities, but releasing information about "contaminated hash" into the media before it's even been confirmed by testing seems like jumping the gun.

General General

Which Cannabis? website being set up by the HSE as you read this.

whitesands

nibble wrote: »

As I said in my post in the previous page there are several reports of multiple and single acute organ failure in recent years that appear to be directly related to solely consumption of synthetic cannabinoid chemicals. These reports are scientific, medical papers published in peer reviewed literature.

Seriously? have you a link I can read up on this?