Instead of Creating Zombies, Fake Weed Now Found Containing Heroin, Fentanyl, Tramadol, and Meth

Spice, otherwise known as “fake weed,” has been in the news off and on for many years. When spice first hit the scene, it offered itself to drug users as a marijuana alternative that could be used without fear of failing a drug test. The story with spice is pretty well-known at this point. It was an unknown, legal “research chemical” that was sprayed onto dried plant matter and smoked. Users got a marijuana-like high with some definite differences than traditional THC. After being banned by the DEA, the chemical was slightly altered, and it again became legal. Then the DEA banned that chemical, and it was changed yet again to a technically legal and unbanned substance until that substance was banned. This happened so much that we are many iterations way from what the spice chemical originally was. It turned into a drug that had tons of side effects and it got to the point where the DEA and chemists didn’t really even know what the drug was anymore. Spice notoriously caused hallucinations, psychosis, seizures, and death. There were even reports of spice laced with rat poison that caused users to bleed from their ears and eyes.

Now, instead of the stories about “fake weed” being related to spice, a new form of counterfeit cannabis was found in Salt Lake City that is truly frightening. Local law enforcement put out an internal bulletin to all agencies, notifying officers of the potential dangers of what was found. A type of fake marijuana was discovered to not a form of marijuana at all, but a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, tramadol, and methamphetamine. The only reason it’s being called “fake weed” is because the deadly concoction was made to look like marijuana, but in reality, it is a far cry from it.

“When you start seeing something anywhere in the U.S., there's a good chance it's going to spread across the country.”

Sgt. Brandon Shearer with the Salt Lake City Police Department said, “When you start seeing something anywhere in the U.S., there's a good chance it's going to spread across the country.”

Besides Salt Lake City, the only other areas to see this mixture of drugs have been Ohio and Canada, but it could potentially spread into other areas, causing some serious carnage. Overdose rates could surge as unsuspecting drug users could mistake this drug for real weed and fall victim to a fatal overdose.

Drug use in our modern society is far more dangerous than it has ever been in history. Instead of addicts worrying about their dealers cutting the drugs too much, making them weaker, now it’s the opposite. Addicts have to worry about the drugs they buy being so strong, they won’t survive the first hit. We’ve got fake prescription pills all over the streets that look like oxy or Xanax, but are really a huge dose of fentanyl pressed into pills by local street chemists and the fact remains, dealers don’t care whether a person lives or dies, just as long as they buy their drugs. The sick part is that addicts want these ridiculously strong mixtures of drugs. When they hear of an area selling drugs that have tons of people overdosing from the product, they flock there in droves to get more bang for their buck. That’s how mentally sick an addict can become.

As long as addicts want these drugs, they’ll be made available. The only way to really handle this completely out-of-control drug problem is to cut the demand for drugs, and the way to cut the demand is to help those already addicted to get clean while preventing others from ever picking up their first drug. Only then can we really start to invoke any kind of change in this crisis.

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