New York marijuana regulators are working to debunk what they say is the “false” narrative that cannabis is commonly contaminated with fentanyl—a “misconception” that remains “widespread” despite a lack of evidence. The state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) recently put out a factsheet on the issue, acknowledging that while fentanyl has been found in drugs […]
I think fentanyl shows up in cocaine and in mdma and other drugs sold in pill form like opiods or benzos. I assume they extrapolated to weed. My speculation would be that the idea was that drug dealers would lace cannabis that is non-addictive with fentanyl to create more ‘loyal’ customers.
It shows up because dealers don’t clean their scales. Those benzos and other pills begin as powder before being pressed. Also, pretty much all black market oxys or Percocets are pressed fent these days from what I’ve heard. Unfortunately, it takes very little fentanyl to cause an overdose, especially in those who don’t have any previous history with opioids (i.e. kids taking mdma at a music festival not expecting to stop breathing) . Cannabis laced with fentanyl is nonsense.
Edit: I’m going to copy this and post it as a root level comment so others can see.
I guess, but that seems unnecessary. You can easily get loyal customers by selling decent weed at a decent price. Or even shitty weed at a shitty price if you’re in a place where it’s hard to come by.
True but there is a massive difference between a loyal customer and an addicted customer.
Where I live cannabis is routinely tempered with. Almost all cannabis you can buy on the black market is just industrial hemp from the Balkans that has been sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids. All the actually good/smokeable stuff comes from Spain where cannabis is being tolerated.
That’s really not how it works in the U.S., where this misinformation is being spread. Especially not these days when you can just drive to a state where it’s legal and buy lots of weed and then just go back to the state where it isn’t legal and sell it for a premium.
And to make it stupider, it’s already legal in New York.
Maybe it’s cases of cross contamination? If a miniscule ammount of fentanyl somehow contaminates cannabis weighed with the same equipment that might backfire badly.
No, it’s just fearmongering bullshit. Probably from the cops. As the article says, they haven’t found a single credible instance of this happening.
You wouldn’t really use the same scale to weigh Fentanyl and weed. Fentanyl is dosed in micro grams. $10k of fentanyl requires a much more precise scale than $10k of weed. Typically such a precise scale cannot handle the weight of $10k of weed.
You’d have to have a dealer who sells very large amounts of Fentanyl and very small amounts of weed.
How do they avoid death through overexposure to fentanyl anyways? Maybe the fentanyl is sold through industrial producers using backwater channels.