Marijuana laced with fentanyl is rising across the US, a Washington doctor has warned, after cases of the drug cocktail were found in New York, Alabama, Illinois and Louisiana.
Fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid that’s 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, is increasingly being mixed with other substances to make them more potent at a cheap price.
Just two milligrams of fentanyl – imagine 10 to 15 grains of table salt – can prove fatal, and staggering figures showed it is killing the equivalent of an entire classroom of children every week.
Meanwhile, a wave of marijuana legalizations across the country has sparked competition over who can get the most potent strain of the drug, putting youths at risk.
In 1999, approximately 5 percent of the 175 deaths from opioids were from fentanyl. By 2021, 1557 (94 percent) of 1657 opioid deaths were attributed to fentanyl
Deaths caused by fentanyl in the US surged in the 2010s. At the start of the decade, 2,666 Americans died of a fentanyl overdose. This figure shot up to 19,413 by 2016. Covid made the situation worse, with a record 72,484 deaths recorded in 2021
Dr Michael Wenzinger, a staff psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine, told KTVI Fox2 on Sunday: ‘In my clinical practice and among some of my peers, we’re seeing more kids reporting they thought they were just smoking marijuana, when drug screens show fentanyl — and they would have toxicological, or medical side effects consistent with that.’
He added that marijuana itself has gotten stronger in recent years and lacings with fentanyl are a new phenomenon.
Whether mixed on purpose or on accident by dealers, fentanyl in weed could make it even more dangerous.
Dr Wenzinger said: ‘This is sort of turning into an unintentional experiment of, “How does this high potency marijuana affect young people?”‘
He added: ‘The marijuana they may be used to from their childhood is not what we’re dealing with now. We’re dealing with an almost different ballgame of potency.’
A further worry is that mental health conditions could be made worse.
This photo provided by the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Phoenix Division shows some of the 30,000 fentanyl pills the agency seized in one of its bigger busts, in Tempe, Arizona, in August, 2017. The picture shows just one of four plastic containers that were stuffed with the tablets
Experts warned against America’s speedy switch to legalizing cannabis, particularly for young people
Pictured: Zach Corona, 13, on life support after he was poisoned by the opioid fentanyl
Schizophrenia cases in men aged between 21 and 30 could have been preventable by up to 30 percent without consistent marijuana use, a study published this month in the journal Psychological Medicine found.
The THC concentration — the major psychoactive part of cannabis — rose more than 200 percent from 1995 to 2015.
Police have claimed to find marijuana laced with fentanyl in Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana and New York.
Fentanyl is flooding into the US from Mexico and China and is relatively easy to smuggle across the border.
It is also cost effective for dealers to mix it into their supplies, which saves them money and can extend or boost the high experienced by users.
Dr Wenzinger said parents should be made aware that the drug is totally different to what they might have smoked as teenagers.
While not wanting to spark panic, he said parents should talk about the risks of marijuana use with their children amid the wave of legalizations.
One mom claimed her ‘straight-A’ schoolboy son had been left brain damaged after bullies forced him to smoke a marijuana vape that turned out to be laced with deadly fentanyl.
Lynda Amos said son Zach Corona, both from Dalton, Georgia, will ‘never be the same again’ as she claimed the vape, which was hidden in his underwear, caused a stroke due to being laced with the drug.
The mom-of-five, 45, was shocked upon discovering her 13-year-old boy passed out on their living room recliner at 6pm on January 1 after complaining of chest pains.
Zach was found unconscious by 12-year-old sister Katie Amos, who first thought that her brother was ‘playing’ until she tried to tickle him and he was unresponsive.
Lynda quickly called an ambulance and Zach reached Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, Tennessee, half an hour later — where he flatlined minutes after arrival.
Doctors confirmed that Zach fell victim to a stroke and, after being resuscitated, he was put on life support.
Lynda had ‘no idea’ why her son had been left fighting for his life — until doctors cut off his clothes to find a vape pen laced with deadly opioid fentanyl, along with marijuana.
After waking from the coma over two weeks later, the 13-year-old claimed that he had been given the vape by a group of children, who made him smoke it in front of him.
Figures show the number of Americans who have marijuana in their system when they try to kill themselves is growing at an alarming 17 percent per year — and the trend is being fueled by a rise in young people.
On average, the marijuana of today contains three times as much THC — the psychoactive compound in weed that gets users and high and causes feelings of paranoia — as the strains enjoyed 25 years ago.
And it’s easier to get than ever. You can’t walk a single block in major cities like New York, LA and Denver anymore without passing a smoke shop selling a dizzying array of highly concentrated edibles and vapes containing THC.
Just this month, San Diego Border Patrol arrested three drug smugglers for attempting to sneak in $3million worth of fentanyl from Mexico, which is enough to kill 50million Americans.
On February 27, San Diego Border Patrol seized 232 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop in San Clemente, California, located roughly 75 miles from the US-Mexico border.
Some 12,500 pounds of fentanyl have been seized since last October, according to Fox News.
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