On Aug. 1, authorities in Wisconsin recorded what they say is the first instance in their state of a fatality linked to synthetic marijuana.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen people, including military personnel, have died in 2018 after ingesting synthetic marijuana \u2014 a blanket term used to describe plant material sprayed with a varying concoction of chemicals, whose effects are intended to mimic those of cannabinoids on the brain and body, but are often cut with toxic materials including rat poison.<\/p>\n
And in a demonstration of painfully obvious irony that should surprise no one and outrage everyone, most deaths have occurred in areas where regular cannabis \u2014 which has killed nobody \u2014 is illegal, and where authorities have not been able to stop the sales of synthetic marijuana.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the summer, the Wisconsin Attorney General\u2019s Office said that two deaths could be attributed to smoking synthetic marijuana.<\/p>\n
On August 1, authorities announced that at least one of the deaths, a 33-year-old woman who collapsed and died in July, was due to fake marijuana.<\/p>\n
According to Wisconsin Poison Control, the woman used a batch of synthetic marijuana sold under the name \u201cK2\u201d that was contaminated with rat poison.<\/p>\n
Synthetic marijuana<\/a>\u00a0has been linked to dozens of deaths and hundreds of hospital visits all around the country this year alone.<\/p>\n Brad Schimel, Wisconsin\u2019s attorney general, issued a desperate plea to retailers to \u201cstop selling these dangerous synthetic cannabinoids and pull them off your shelves immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n It bears mentioning that Schimel has criticized plans to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin,<\/a>\u00a0which lags far behind in access to legal cannabis in comparison to neighboring states including Illinois and Minnesota.<\/p>\n In a span of about a week in Washington D.C. earlier this summer,\u00a0authorities attributed <\/a>four deaths and 140 \u201cpeople sickened\u201d to a \u201cbad batch\u201d of K2.<\/p>\n Victims of synthetic marijuana that did not die were left in \u201czombie-like\u201d catatonic states. Other batches of fake cannabis in other cities including New York have led to similar scenes.<\/p>\n RIGHT NOW: It\u2019s like a scene out of the walking dead. A block from the @DCPoliceDept<\/a> station, several people are dropping like flies all day from what\u2019s being called by first responders, \u201cbad K2\u201d. https:\/\/t.co\/yc5r3SuMaz<\/a> @LindsayAWatts<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pJbiQwKoyk<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Van Applegate (@vbagate) July 19, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n In Chicago,\u00a0health authorities say <\/a>at least five people have been killed by synthetic marijuana, including a 25-year-old man whose death June 12 was linked to a rat poison that is \u201ccommonly used to make synthetic marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n And in January, more than 93 U.S. Army soldiers and U.S. Marines in two states became sick after vaping what Pentagon authorities described as \u201csynthetic cannabinoid oil.\u201d At least two service members died after suffering seizures,\u00a0according to CBS News.<\/a><\/p>\n Like many others who use synthetic marijuana, the soldiers were seeking a \u201chigh\u201d that would not later appear on a drug test. Cannabis use is banned in the military, with violators facing penalties up to and including expulsion from the service, and loss of attendant benefits.<\/p>\n In other states \u2014 including Wisconsin \u2014 lawmakers and other elected officials have expressed interest in requiring recipients of food stamps and other benefits to submit to drug testing. Those who fail drug tests could see their government benefits reduced to cut entirely.<\/p>\n In this way, the government continues to create a strong incentive for people to use synthetic marijuana despite the risks. That, in turn, creates a market incentive for gas stations, smoke shops and other unscrupulous merchants to sell the potentially deadly stuff.<\/p>\n Both law enforcement and public-health authorities agree that synthetic cannabis is a menace to public health. And this potentially deadly situation has arisen thanks to marijuana prohibition.<\/p>\n Thus, the solution is painfully obvious. Whether authorities will admit to themselves what it is \u2014 and whether more people have to die before they do \u2014 remains to be seen.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>,\u00a0do you think synthetic marijuana sales should be banned?<\/p>\n The post Fake Marijuana Keeps Killing People All Over the U.S.<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 1, authorities in Wisconsin recorded what they say is the first instance in their state of a fatality linked to synthetic marijuana. More than a dozen people, including military personnel, have died in 2018 after ingesting synthetic marijuana \u2014 a blanket term used to describe plant material sprayedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[605,50,5249,1051,53,884,5250,4102,1786],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28340,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28339\/revisions\/28340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Fake Marijuana Keeps Killing People All Over the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"