Author: Alex Thompson
Fentanyl in Weed in 2023: How to tell if Weed is Laced
Real trichomes will stick to your fingers, but if you notice dust falling off your flower, it has been laced. Different forms of marijuana have different appearances, tastes and smells. Normal symptoms of marijuana use include happiness, relaxation and forgetfulness. Fentanyl test strips are available for purchase at many drugstores and online retailers. Prices can vary depending on the brand and quantity of strips you purchase, but they are generally affordable.
- Nearly all of them ran the same story, a rewrite of the Summit County Sheriff’s press release published by the Cox Media Group National Desk.
- Rare cases of dealers selling marijuana laced with hard drugs have been reported.
- Fentanyl can be administered in various ways, including transdermal patches, injections, and lozenges.
Vancouver police quickly clarified that they had never come across fentanyl-laced marijuana. Clark’s office later admitted she had simply repeated erroneous information picked up from law enforcement and the media. In the past decade, fentanyl has become common in illicit drug supplies around the world. A kilo of heroin costs about $50,000-$100,000, and grams sell for under $60. But a kilo of fentanyl—most commonly manufactured in China—can go for almost $1,000,000 per kilo.
Laced Weed: What is It and How To Tell If Weed Is Laced
If someone buys it from a dealer, they may go back to that dealer because they’re unknowingly addicted. The Ontario Harm Reduction Network reports that there have been no laboratory documented cases of fentanyl-laced cannabis in Canada. It emphasizes that reports claiming to have found fentanyl in cannabis often have alternate explanations or do not use scientific evidence. The number one reason why these overdoses happen is because of purchasing weed from unauthorized street dealers.
However, you are putting your health at risk by consuming laced drugs. Before discussing how to tell if weed is laced and with what, it’s important to remember that lacing your weed with anyone is always dangerous. Almost no formal scientific study exists on the impact of combining substances with weed. It’s impossible for most people to determine what’s in the drugs that they buy on the street. Anyone who buys weed on the street is at risk for getting a bad batch. Dealers are more likely to lace weed with cheap substances to rip off customers.
What Does Laced Mean?
If they face a serious risk using any cannabis-related products, we intend to let them know about it. Due to its stimulant properties, you’ll also feel increased energy levels and intense focus. Although some cannabis strains increase energy, it’s usually pleasant. You probably won’t be able to rest or sleep well if you’ve consumed cocaine-laced weed. Cocaine-laced weed or heroin-laced weed has a high chance of being addictive.
Though nearly all of these stories are untrue, their repetition has an effect that ripples up to the halls of power. Heroin is a brown and yellow powder that some people add to cannabis to give the user increased effects. If you notice these colors on your nugs, it may be heroin-laced weed. Use the method of rolling a piece between your fingers to see if excess dust falls off.
If you’re in an environment where people use drugs, avoid accidentally coming into contact with potentially laced substances. Cocaine is a powerful stimulant drug that can have serious health effects. Its short-term effects include euphoria, increased alertness, and feelings of power and invincibility. Cocaine can also cause dangerous side effects like heart attack, stroke, and seizure.
If a substance is “cut” with another substance, that usually means additives like corn starch, flour, baking soda, or even chalk are mixed with the substance. This is usually done to help stretch the product further and boost sales for the dealer. These things cut with the substance don’t alter the high, though they could make it less effective than normal. Until readers and public leaders demand more accountability from police and media members, we’ll continue to see more of these stories every month. Reefer Madness, ‘Just say no,’ and the DARE program showed that flimsy anti-drug messaging makes kids more prone to smoking pot. And current data suggests teens smoke less weed after their states legalize.
Stories about teenagers and young adults overdosing, how numbers were rising, and how officials were concerned. You’ve heard of fentanyl before but never about it being in weed. These drug panics spread when media outlets serve as public relations agencies for local police departments, platforming their claims without any actual research, fact checking, or follow-up. The medic takes you at your word, and the cop runs with the information.
How Do Drugs Get Mixed?
Withdrawal can make a person very ill and can be dangerous if a person is pregnant or has underlying health conditions. However, the man had a history of opioid use and might have been using fentanyl as an alternative source of opioids rather than using fentanyl-laced cannabis. Read on to learn more about fentanyl-laced cannabis, including the risks and how to avoid it. Green Health Docs’ mission is to combat the nation’s opioid epidemic. As a team of pain medicine physicians, anesthesiologists, and surgeons, we knew that there had to be a better way to help patients. Meanwhile, a 16-year-old student died after a fentanyl overdose at a Connecticut high school.
This potentially triggers or worsens an existing mental health disorder. Heroin is a highly addictive illegal drug derived from morphine. It’s typically sold as a white or brown powder or black sticky substance. In 2017, claims by Canadian officials of fentanyl-spiked marijuana deaths sparked confusion, despite coroners reporting no cases. Conway has been criticized for repeating the claim in the past, such as at a March 1 conference for conservative activists.
Participating in polysubstance use by smoking fentanyl-laced weed drastically increases your risk of negative side effects and overdose. The following year, however, Vancouver police officers told local newscasters that they hadn’t actually seen this. Being unaware of fentanyl within a substance you’re consuming drastically increases your odds of experiencing an overdose.
What Does Laced Weed Look Like?
The only substance found from samples taken at the Aug. 2018 incident, DEA officials said, was the synthetic drug K2. No fentanyl, or opioids of any kind, turned up in lab testing. Hart is all too familiar with the ongoing parade of “fentanyl-laced marijuana” claims.
One is called cutting and one is called lacing, and they’re different things. Sadly, scary tales of addiction and overdose sell better than complex discussions about human biology, psychology, and drug use. Toxicology reports routinely show that the mixing of substances, not the substances themselves, may be the true cause of death. Prior to Uvalde, news organizations were starting to reconsider their unquestioning publication of police claims as verified facts.
Some even lace weed with food coloring to make it look more appealing. Before more states started to legalize marijuana, we had to rely on other sources for our beloved plant. Unfortunately, some dealers like to lace weed for various reasons—mainly financial. Lacing is mostly done with other drugs, not with marijuana, but it still happens. You may find cannabis laced with small shards of glass, lead, fungi, or even laundry detergent. Instead, stories of people overdosing on fentanyl while using cannabis might be because a person uses opioids while they use cannabis.