First I can say that while my Bullshitometer wasn't completely pegged, it was well into the red. You can't instantly rule everything out, but I just couldn't see it being a real thing. I'll give my thoughts before I look into the studies.
First off, while some weed is moved by certain organizations where fentanyl and weed might be in the same room, most weed is handled by growers who have nothing to do with fentanyl. It would certainly not be a concern buying dispensary weed since it's tested for contaminants.
Fent may be cheap but it's not free, and lacing large amounts of weed with even a little bit would be expensive and incredibly time consuming. Growers certainly aren't going to bother with it. If someone were trying to create some sort of "wacky weed" by lacing it with fent they'd be going to a hell of a lot of trouble. Some strains of weed are hitting 30% THC, and that's wacky enough for most people.
Ordinarily I'd say that adding anything to weed would change the taste and the way it smoked, although fentanyl is viciously potent so they wouldn't have to add very much. It should still affect the flavor, and a discerning smoker should taste it. Foreign substances like pharmaceuticals will usually smoke and bubble and turn into black goo and smell acrid, and it's very noticeable.
Back in the 70s, traditional Thai Sticks were made by taking small but choice buds of Thailand-grown weed, tying them onto a thin bamboo stick with hemp thread, and coating them in powdered opium. You could see the coating of brown powder, and to me they smelled more like fish food than grass. They smoked and sputtered differently than pure bud, and tasted completely different. Again it'd take much less fent due to its potency, but it should still be detectable.
This reminds me of the "Paraquat scare" of the late-70s or early 80s, where the feds started spraying some fields with Paraquat, and people thought their weed might be contaminated. Paraquat test kits were flying off the shelf and people were worried, but the chances of people smoking Paraquat weed were pretty slim, if they knew anything at all about what healthy weed looks like.
I actually saw a batch of Paraquat weed. Either that or something else killed it, but it was yellowish-brown, dry as dust and already dead when harvested. Some dumbass had bought a key of it, and he ended up trying to sell it for pennies on the dollar but he couldn't give it away. Zappa warned us not to eat yellow snow, and luckily most people were intelligent enough to know not to smoke yellow weed. As always, cooler heads prevailed.
That's my two cents...now on to the studies. Apparently the rumor started from a single broadcast from a politician in BC back in 2016. The story was retracted later the same day and the person apologized, but that's how it works- the original story was given front-page treatment in large font while the retraction was on page 5 or whatever. All the news agencies picked up on the first story and ran with it.
I watched a video where a guy consolidated all of the studies, official ones, that debunked the rumors. He showed clips of newscasters repeating the same story over and over again about weed being laced with fent. If you still don't believe that the mainstream news is agenda-driven, watch some of those vids where they show different news people starting out the same story with the exact same wording, right down to repeating unusual phrases. I've turned people who aren't awake onto that, and at least it got them scratching their heads.
Except for the alcohol industry, I can't see why anyone would want to scare people into thinking that their weed might be laced with fentanyl, but the rumors, according to official medical and gubmint websites, are bullshit. It's probably about more regulations on the weed industry, a multi-billion-dollar business and growing. Any way the feds can fuck with it- genetically modifying it and whatnot, the happier they'll be. Control is their goal; fear is their favorite tool of control, and money is their god.
Another incident took place in New York, when cops busted up a party I think, where people were acting crazy. Initial reports said that they found weed laced with fentanyl, but the story was later retracted when they tested the samples and found not fentanyl but that K2 Spice stuff. Again the bogus story was picked up by news agencies and reported as fact, and again that's how it works. Bullshit gets promoted and the truth is relegated to page 5.
There was another incident where fentanyl actually was discovered in weed...a single incident, but again it was picked up by all the news agencies. It was almost certainly something that someone did as a one-off for themselves. There was only a small amount found, and no indication that any of it was ever sold.
Finally, studies on what happens to fentanyl when smoked debunked the whole thing. They said that smoking fentanyl wouldn't result in any intoxication, since the temperature at which weed is burned would destroy the fentanyl. There were also rumors that it was being added to vape cartridges, which again would be possible, except that the temperature of vapes isn't high enough to vaporize fentanyl. Either way, smoking fentanyl, at normal weed or vape temperatures anyway, doesn't work.
I don't ridicule those who think that the "stupid drugs" are laced with fent on purpose by higher-ups as a means of population control, but why would they lace weed, knowing that smoking it destroys it? It works just fine when mixed with things that aren't smoked, and we know of thousands of accidental overdoses, when people didn't know they were taking fentanyl.
A kid who was a neighbor accidentally overdosed on fentanyl last year. I liked him and I'm still bummed. He wasn't a loser...he had a great job as a sous chef at a country club, a sweetheart for a girlfriend and a good head on his shoulders. He dealt drugs, which is uncool, but he was a good kid. He had a heart.
I don't know all the details but he told me once that opiates weren't his thing. He told me plenty about stuff he was into, so he had no reason to lie. It's almost certain that he took something that was laced with fent, and I seriously doubt it was weed. He was a connoisseur, and wouldn't have been fooled. He was only 21. It's sad. Rest in peace, Connor.
So there you have it...the rumors of weed being laced with fentanyl are just more bullshit. I'm not advocating smoking weed that is or isn't laced with anything, or doing any substances for that matter. I just want people to see through the bullshit. Have a nice day!
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