Weed Feed: Synthetic Pot Laced With Rat Poison Possibly Linked to 94 Cases of ‘Life-Threatening’ Bleeding, CDC Says

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WEED FEED / John Ross Ferrara / Monday, April 9, 2018 @ 9:14 a.m.

Weed Feed: Synthetic Pot Laced With Rat Poison Possibly Linked to 94 Cases of ‘Life-Threatening’ Bleeding, CDC Says

Original photo of synthetic weed by U.S. Department of Defense | Wikimedia.

Nearly 100 people around the Midwest have been treated for “serious unexplained bleeding” in the last month. Doctors say many of those cases may be linked to synthetic marijuana laced with rat poison brodifacoum.

A warning issued by the Center for Disease Control last week stated that 63 of the patients interviewed in Illinois — where an overwhelming majority of the cases have been reported — said they smoked synthetic weed.

“Laboratory investigation confirms brodifacoum exposure in at least 18 patients,” the CDC reports says. “There are two fatalities — both in Illinois. Illinois public health epidemiologists interviewed 63 patients, and they all reported synthetic cannabinoids use. At least three synthetic cannabinoid product samples related to this outbreak have tested positive for brodifacoum. A working hypothesis is the synthetic cannabinoids were contaminated with brodifacoum.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health reports that synthetic cannabinoids are “human-made, mind-altering chemicals that are either sprayed on dried, shredded plant material so they can be smoked or sold as liquids to be vaporized and inhaled in e-cigarettes.”

“These chemicals are called cannabinoids because they are similar to chemicals found in the marijuana plant,” the IDPH said in a statement last week. “Because of this similarity, synthetic cannabinoids are sometimes misleadingly called “synthetic marijuana” (or “fake weed”), and they are often marketed as safe, legal alternatives to that drug. In fact, they are not safe and may affect the brain much more powerfully than marijuana; their actual effects can be unpredictable and, in some cases, more dangerous or even life-threatening.”

The CDC reports that clinical signs of being poisoned by brodifacoum include “bruising, nosebleeds, bleeding gums, bleeding disproportionate to injury, vomiting blood, coughing up blood, blood in urine or stool, excessively heavy menstrual bleeding, back or flank pain, altered mental status, feeling faint or fainting, loss of consciousness, and collapse.”

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