AHS Views

The illegal drug market has never been a trusted source for safe products of course, but recent reports of some contaminated marijuana in England have had many health officials and drug users worried in recent months.

Apparently, there have been reports of what is being called “grit weed”, which has tiny glass beads sprayed on it with glue to appear better and weigh more (increasing the price).

Pro-marijuana sites and users’ message boards are filled with posts of people confirming these reports, which have spread throughout the UK. “It seems to be being done on an industrial scale,” said Harry Shapiro of Drugscope, which is a major charity in the UK.

Drugscope also issued a warning about the substance, stating, “We want to make people aware of it from a public health point of view. If you are smoking this stuff and taking it into your lungs it’s not good news.”

Because the market is driven by basic supply and demand principles, money is the root of the underground trade industry. The concern for adverse health effects doesn’t even come into play when the sellers can get top dollar for a dangerous product.

In a similar vein, but a different drug in the U.S., heroin suppliers had mixed in amounts of the opiate Fentanyl, which is much stronger than morphine. The idea was to save money on the amount of heroin, while increasing potency and using other powder fillers instead. The result was a serious outbreak in overdose deaths from the Midwest to the East Coast.

If enough glass from the grit weed were ingested into the lungs of a marijuana user, the result could be very hazardous and even deadly over a period of time if use continued.

Article by Eric

Digg It | Reddit | Newsvine Seed

Add to your bookmarks in:
del.icio.us | Yahoo! | Google | Furl | ma.gnolia | Spurl