Just hours before President Biden announced a major initiative Reform Federal Marijuana Laws Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced report It highlights some of the collateral damage of severely criminalizing relatively safe drugs.
This report documents mass poisonings from alternative marijuana products contaminated with rat venom. The incident, which left 52 people seriously ill and four died, is neither the first nor the largest such poisoning. nearly 200 A rash of poisoning across multiple states that killed four people.
In the latest cluster, health officials in Florida first began noticing cases last December. And based on the 2018 outbreak, they quickly linked the disease to synthetic cannabinoids (spice, K2, synthetic marijuana, or fake weed).
Synthetic cannabinoid products are small foil packages containing some type of dried, shredded plant material sprayed with lab-made mind-altering chemicals intended to mimic the constituents of marijuana. It is often sold. It is also sometimes sold as a liquid. Products may be poorly regulated and contain an ever-changing lineup of substances to circumvent evolving laws. Nonetheless, they are often falsely marketed as safe, natural and legal alternatives to marijuana, go undetected on drug tests and promise the same benefits as the real drug.
Synthetic cannabinoids can be dubious and dangerous, but products containing the rodenticide brodifacoum are especially dangerous. Brodifacoum is one of a class of rodenticides calledsuper warfarin” and was used as an active ingredient in rat food “D-Con”. Toxic chemicals are long-acting vitamin K oxidoreductase antagonists that block the activity of certain enzymes. This increases the inactive form.of Vitamin K, plays an important role in blood clotting. Specifically, prothrombin, a protein in the blood directly involved in clotting, is dependent on vitamin K.
powerful hit
Taking brodifacoum can interfere with proper clotting and lead to life-threatening bleeding. Also, because it is a long-acting drug, treatment of addiction may take months. Brodifacoum has a half-life of 16 to 36 days, and researchers have observed it to remain in the body for up to 270 days after acute exposure.
Health officials in the Tampa area noted in a new report on poisonings in Florida that the most common symptoms of poisoning are abdominal pain, blood in the urine, and hematemesis. and was difficult to handle. “Many patients required high doses of oral vitamin K1 (i.e., 150 mg daily), requiring 30 5 mg tablets daily during hospitalization and for three to six months after discharge.” said the authors.
Also, the cost of treatment was high. Oral vitamin K1 treatment can cost upwards of $65,000 per month. Also, testing for brodifacoum poisoning cost him over $750. Florida officials point out that her two-thirds of patients are uninsured and a private pharmaceutical company eventually donated enough vitamin K1 pills to treat all 52 of her patients. Did.
Officials don’t know for sure who puts brodifacoum in fake weed, but researchers speculated May prolong or enhance the effects of synthetic cannabinoids. Brodifacoum has also been found to contaminate real marijuana and cocaine.
Drug addiction is another reason advocates for drug policy reform are seeking. Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, which is already done in some states. Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia have laws permitting the medical use of marijuana. report from National Organization for Marijuana Law ReformLaws in 19 states and the District of Columbia permit recreational use, and 27 states partially or fully decriminalize possession.
On Thursday, President Biden made a move to reform federal law by issuing a massive amnesty for federal simple possession crimes. He also directed federal officials to reconsider marijuana’s status as a “Schedule 1” drug, the designation used for the most dangerous drugs.
