- April 23, 2018
- Posted by: Keith Graves
- Category: Drug Trends
A few months ago I wrote about a synthetic cannabis product that had sickened up to 30 people. Now, over 100 people have been sickened and 3 people have died. Scientific America recently wrote that symptoms documented by poison centersâfirst mostly in the Midwest, and now in Marylandâinclude unexplained bruising, coughing up blood, bleeding from the nose and gums, blood in urine and feces, and excessively heavy menstruation. An investigation into these poisonings has reveled that a rat poison product called brodifacoum was found in the tainted product. This rat poison is an anticoagulant that causes brain damage.
Why Put Rat Poison in Synthetic Cannabis (or Any Drug)?
Why Put Rat Poison in Synthetic Cannabis (or Any Drug)?There was a huge amount of rat poison in the synthetic cannabis, so that indicates that this was no accident and that it was put there on purpose. Douglas Feinstein, a neuroscientist and brodifacoum expert developing new antidotes to this substance at the University of Illinois at Chicago, had this to say about it:
Feinstein cites previous case studies, reported in the scientific literature, of drug users deliberately ingesting rat poison to stay high longer when taking marijuana or cocaine. The toxin ties up liver enzymes that metabolize drugs, extending their effects.
Feinsteinâwhose work is funded by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and StrokeÊŒs CounterACT Program, tasked with developing countermeasures against chemical threatsâadded that malicious intent cannot be ruled out. He also speculated the drugs themselves could have exacerbated the poisoning if they dilated blood vessels.
Of course, you can’t rule out that someone put rat poison in these products with malicious intent, but there is history of drug abusers using it to lengthen their high.
Scientific America had more to add about synthetic cannabis:
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain and body rather weakly, Burgin says. But some molecules in the synthetic chemicals hold on with an iron grip; they can be hundreds of times more potent than natural pot. Their chemical structures often bear little resemblance to THC, and that is part of what makes them difficult to regulate. In 2011 the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency banned five of the earliest such compounds to hit the streets, and in 2012 Congress passed the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act outlawing 15 chemicals. Makers responded with creative chemistry, crafting other molecules that have similar effects and thus staying one step ahead of the law, says Jeff Lapoint, director of the Division of Medical Toxicology at Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center. The exact formula in the drugs recently found to be tainted with rat poison remains unclear.
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Might simply be a result of the conditions in which the synthetic cannabinoids were prepared. These are notoriously basic and it would easy for rodenticides to accidentally get in…
Keith,
The lead-in to this article invokes “50 soldiers at Ft. Bragg”. I’ve consulted on separate events and rat poison is not a feature of the North Carolina events.
Ralph Little
just curious what was the drug that made 50 soldiers at Ft Bragg ill?
And I thought they did random drug testing in the Army?