Glass particle contamination in Cannabis

[Torsten]

I thought this was a hyped media article when I first heard about it a few months ago. I think it was even posted on these forums. So, I was rather shocked to find that this problem applies to nearly 10% of cannabis seizures in the UK. WTF????

UPDATE ON SEIZURES OF CANNABIS CONTAMINATED WITH GLASS PARTICLES

To:

NHS Trusts - Medical Directors (England)

NHST/FT/007 - NHS FOUNDATION TRUSTS (ENGLAND) - MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Primary Care Trusts - Directors of Public Health

Primary Care Trusts - Medical Directors

Cc (Groups):

Chairman - Professional Executive Committee of PCT

MHRA Drug Alerts

NHS Trust Chief Executives

NHST/FT/001 - NHS FOUNDATION TRUSTS (ENGLAND) - CHIEF EXECUTIVE

PCT Chief Executives

Public Health Link

SHA Chief Executives

Strategic Health Authorities (England) - Directors of Public Health

Territorial CMOs

Fax To:

From:

Department of Health

Date: 17 May 2007

Reference CEM/CMO/2007/12

Category: NON-URGENT (cascade within 3 days)

Title:

UPDATE ON SEIZURES OF CANNABIS CONTAMINATED WITH GLASS PARTICLES

Broadcast Content:

To: Directors of Public Health of PCTs to forward to:

All GENERAL PRACTITIONERS - please ensure this message is seen by all

practice nurses and non-principals working in your practice

- Deputising services

- Project manager/Nurse lead in Walk in Centres

- Lead nurses in PCTs

- PCT Pharmaceutical Advisers to forward to community pharmacists

Update on seizures of cannabis contaminated with glass particles

1. This is an update to a previous alert, issued on January 16 this year

regarding potential health harms associated with the use of cannabis

that had been contaminated with glass particles

2. Since then we have been investigating this matter further, in

consultation with colleagues in the Forensic Science Service and this

communication is to update you on our latest advice based on emerging

information.

3. Whilst there is some evidence of a fall in the levels of glass

contamination of cannabis in 2007, there is also a possibility that it

has become less easy for users to detect it.

4. Information received from the Forensic Science Service in April 2007,

which includes analysis of seizures of cannabis, provides the following

updated information:

a. contaminated cannabis has been in circulation since at least July

2006 and in significant numbers since at least November 2006;

b. contaminated cannabis is found in approximately 5-10% of herbal

cannabis seizure cases examined;

c. the proportions in seized cannabis in February (4.6%) and March

(5.9%) are lower than that in January (9.6%), which may indicate that

the market is changing in response to the media and concerns of users;

d. glass-contaminated cannabis has now been found in most parts of the

UK - but not in Wales, and with no recent seizures in Northern Ireland;

e. evidence to date supports the view that the contaminated cannabis is

being imported, probably from the Netherlands;

f. the reason for adding the glass particles remains uncertain, but it

still seems likely that they are added to improve the apparent quality

and weight;

g. internet cannabis forums are now reporting the appearance of cannabis

contaminated with much finer particles that are not easily detected as a

gritty feeling; and

h. if growers are using much smaller particles of glass beads, this

could, theoretically, increase the health risk of smoking contaminated

cannabis.

5. Please note that the main alert and information for patients provided

in January 2007, advising to stop or reduce use, and to avoid any

further use of samples where there is suspicion of actual contamination,

still stands. The wording of each has been updated to reflect the

information that there are internet reports of samples with finer glass

that may not be identifiable by a feeling of grittiness.

6. DH will continue to monitor the available information and will

provide updated information when appropriate.

This document has been authorised by the Department of Health: Gateway

reference no: 8250

http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/embroadcast...02572DE0036E4FF

[Ace]

Sounds like a pretty big issue. So what would the health concerns be? I could assume that if one were cooking contam'ed buds up into a cake or such, then the particles *may* do some sort of damage. As would smoking the particles - surely that would be quite dangerous to inhale?

I can only assume that this would be used to make the buds heavier for sale - yeah? I guess the government is to blame for that one too - if we could all grow even just one or two plants, there'd be no need to buy from dodgy dealers. Now there is the risk of people ending up in hospital and wasting taxpayer money on their health, when it could all be avoided...

I can only hope that this sort of thing doesnt spread worldwide - but then again people have been doing some dodgy shit to their produce to increase weight for years. Ahh well, I guess its just a matter of avoiding it or growing your own...

[John Smith]

...I guess the government is to blame for that one too - if we could all grow even just one or two plants, there'd be no need to buy from dodgy dealers. Now there is the risk of people ending up in hospital and wasting taxpayer money on their health, when it could all be avoided...

Yep, yet another consequence of prohibition. Not only would the victims likely be wasting taxpayers money if they end up in hospital, but many probably would be taxpayers themeselves.

[AndyAmine.]

I can only assume that this would be used to make the buds heavier for sale - yeah?

I would say its used to add weight and to fake the look of shiny trichromes.

A lot of the commercial bud is filled with PGR's like Superbud and while it has some advantages for resale like adding weight it reduces the amount of resin production, so they loose that shiny crystaly look and the deep long lasting smell you get on nice buds

They probably spray it with perfume, fruit juice or something similar then sprinkle on the the glass particles.

[BlackDragon]

Prohibition again rears its ugly head, sad state of affairs for med and rec users...

I assume if the glass particles are small enough, which it sounds like they are, you would actually inhale some particles, resulting in a condition similar to aspestosis, from glass fibers or grindings, when even small ammounts are present in lungs tissue, they agitate and litteraly grind and cut the lung aeola and cause internal belleding along with deterioration of the lung, eventually you drown in your own blood. Fucking horrible, my grandpa died from it, its not pretty at all. I would hate to see this practise happening here.

From what i can deduce, they would be using a type of sandblasting grit or something similar. It comes in a range of sizes and textures.

Good to see the medicos picking up on it and at least posting a warning about it.

There was an article a few issues ago in Softsecrets about pot contaminants and crap people are putting into weed. Check it out, one of the best bi-monthly mags ive seen in ages.

++( Softsecrets seems to be down at the moment )++

[oxydiser]

I assume if the glass particles are small enough, which it sounds like they are, you would actually inhale some particles, resulting in a condition similar to aspestosis, from glass fibers or grindings, when even small ammounts are present in lungs tissue, they agitate and litteraly grind and cut the lung aeola and cause internal belleding along with deterioration of the lung, eventually you drown in your own blood.

Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, its your own body immune system that causes the damage rather than the particles themselves, though I don't doubt for a second that this has the potential to lead to some fibrotic lung disease akin to asbestosis/silicosis

[BlackDragon]

thanks for clearing that up oxy, and my spelling its nasty shit, i only remeber from when i was a youngin.

[PD.]

Grit weed.

see here and here

Under flash, the "grit" is highly reflective making the contamination easy to see

[Vertmorpheus]

That is just horrific.... anyone selling gear like that should be done for assault or something... oddly enough, some guys I used to get on from (ooollld blokes) both have asbestosis courtesy of james hardy... its one of the more terrible thing's I've seen affect a person. Mesophilioma as well, or maybe its the same thing. Scary shit either way.They're cactus, were hard young bastards once upon a time, cut to bits from the inside.

A few things get used though, icing sugar, steam, I've seen fine crumbs of sand in bags (maybe from a caught-up clod though)... one bloke was even happy to hand out bags featuring a 2cm section of winnie blue with paper around it (well ya gunna nick it up anyway c**t...pure class). Big lumps of log posing as stem, rock bud and other silicate additives, speed drying so the outside is fairly dry but the middle is still wet, buds literally pried open and the space between nuggets crammed with rolled up leaf and kif... bullshit.

Remember, just because you line up a bag doesn't mean you have to take it... always look at the stuff, even if for the usual suspects (crap, bugs, mould,). Say No To Drugs....sometimes!

Glad my lungs more or less gave out on handling the stuff full stop in some ways, the odd spot of fun but yeah... awful to have to take things like this into account on a friday night with mates, let alone med users. But then the brits have always had that rubbish, oxo cubes and domestos hash, soapbar gear, sawdust and motor oil, you name it. Poor bastards.

Of course, some of the scariest stuff around is the things you can't even see. Just a woeful state of affairs.

Just Say KNOW.

GD

[dqd]

That is just horrific.... anyone selling gear like that should be done for assault or something... oddly enough, some guys I used to get on from (ooollld blokes) both have asbestosis courtesy of james hardy... its one of the more terrible thing's I've seen affect a person. Mesophilioma as well, or maybe its the same thing. Scary shit either way.They're cactus, were hard young bastards once upon a time, cut to bits from the inside.

Yeah, my old man went from meso... those old enough to remember live aid will remember the pics of the starving... that's what my old man looked like when he went.

As for gritweed, surely smoking through a waterpipe would eliminate any risks?

[Vertmorpheus]

maybe, but not entirely... if the water got a decent hold on all suspended solids etc, then you wouldn't get real stoned either I suspect. Maybe a screen, then a double chamber, then some kind of particulate filter mask haha... guess you could butane the bullshit buds, but that would be dignifying it with too much attention.... other than seeing if cannabis is effective as a suppository when administered to maggoty dealers, I can't think of much it'd be good for. At any rate, I'm sure if its still doing the rounds, in some areas it'd be the only action and kiddies would be coming up with some half arsed way of "keeping it safe" so they can keep getting whacked and not feel TOO stupid. Extract and filter like hell... but reports reckon it hangs onto a fair whack of the hydrocarbs and goos from the spraypak (its meant to be like sandblasting sand, but some prepressurised product with oils and shit in it, for glass etching... you can buy similar things here from hardware and craft shops.Dunno bout that, there's some dodgy bud around aus as it is, lets hope this doesnt catch on. T's post mentions users having a harder time detecting of late ...nasty... I'm thinking nibbling a little like a sunflower seed you might be lucky enough to feel the crunch like even superfine sand will do between your teeth.If it's smaller than that, dunno how you'd work out it was there...but if it alters appearance, it has to be apparent at some visual level.Don't buy bud in the dark eh?This is less of an issue in a land where your nan has seen better buds than most of NW europe, but some kid in wales (of course someone does, but blew me away people smoke pot in wales Maybe it's a bit like not eating seafood more than two hours from the coast? ) isn't going to have seen 300 different kinds of gear from mates grown by older bros and dads mate etc... less for comparison. For scent etc they could use a bunch of things, juices etc, but maybe flavourings used for hookah tobacco, or those spirit essences etc... most of those are manufactured in holland where they reckon this shit is coming from. Mate of a mate used to mist his dodgy bush with pinocleen (maniacs),a girl I used to know was big on tryinng to flavour the shit with this n that, usually came out pretty hideous but the rosemary wasn't too bad at all...though that other blokes pinobud actually did smell pretty good, tragically enough.

Ah, legality and the benefits it would bring... no experimentally minded schoolkid deserves to end up wasting away, and those old blokes I mentioned used a lot of pot to help with the nausea of their painkillers, antiinflams etc (they started the day on 120mg of tramadol and it only went up from there, washed down with vb)... to get lung killing weed to help with your dying lungs... that's beyond criminal.

DQD, BD, sorry to hear about your loss...

Poor bastards...everyone put at risk of that kind of illness by other people's ignorance, or just complete lack of respect for life.

don't smoke em if you got em

GD

[Conan Troutman]

Is that pic real grit bud?? You would think that mulling it up with your hands would cut ya up...

Grit hash?

the fact that JH has been held accountable for there deception is somewhat redeeming..

[n00dle]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis

"b. contaminated cannabis is found in approximately 5-10% of herbal

cannabis seizure cases examined;"

merely from a skeptical viewpoint, as an fbi agent or police officer, it would look really great if i put some ground glass into all my busts to ward all those kids away.

who's really putting the glass in there is the question, let's not be too quick to jump to conclusions.

see you guys in another 6 months.

*slaves away in the lab*

Edited May 18, 2007 by n00dle

[devance]

Just one had thought one had heard of everything nasty this comes up.

One the other hand it might be a psyops like noodle says.

Makes more sense.

A criminal organization isn't going be in business if thats type of ripoff occurs.

A bullet in head outside of a bar is alot faster than sueing in court.

[BlackDragon]

The question "who" doesnt matter, and we all know "why". Its just another heartless cash grab. Thats all. Its always been the way, even in the old days of frankincense resin trading, they worked out how to cut it with other cheaper resins. Sometimes people are simply heartless.

DQD, its a horrible sight isnt it? makes some of the more "deadly" diseases look tame compared to the horror of lung disease. I personally stoped seeing my grandpa because it was hurting me to know how much he was going through, and i wanted to remember him for the man he was, tall strapping and mega fit 120kg burley german. By the end, only 3-4 months from fit to passed away and he had only been retired for one month before hospitialisation, he was 40kg of bones and sinue like you said. Ive never seen anything like it.

[BlackDragon]

A criminal organization isn't going be in business if thats type of ripoff occurs.

Ha, that a funny one!! You dont think so?? geez if the world was such a nice place.....

[dqd]

DQD, BD, sorry to hear about your loss...

Poor bastards...everyone put at risk of that kind of illness by other people's ignorance, or just complete lack of respect for life.

don't smoke em if you got em

GD

Cheers for the thought mate, but it was many moons ago now. My old man was the first case in the courts here for meso... he was alive when it started and had been dead for 2 years when it finished. Mum couldn't take it any more and settled out of court, on the proviso that no other member of the family made a claim... ever. After court costs she got $15,000. Not long after the Wittenoom (sp?) cases started, and the rest is history.

Know what you mean BD... Dad had his last months at home and I helped take care of him, wasn't pretty. I quit school and home not long after, but that's another story.

Least we all know better now a. May Hardie's and the like never happen again.

[Vertmorpheus]

If potential lethality was any kind of a marketing obstruction, there'd be a severe shortage of just about anything illegal... I know what you mean, when it comes to sommeone at a local level actually having to hand the shit out (thats what has be baffled, why buy it?) If the PTB wanted to psych people out, they'd just get a lil media coverage of some nasty pathogen, that rots your balls and make you impotent... the first mentions of this business seems to be from users rather than authorities, who thankfully had SOME sense in actually mentioning it on even a slightly larger and more legitimate platform. It'd be added at the growers level or the wholesale buyers, or once it got right to the end of the foochain... would have to look at amounts seized at once, etc maybe... I can see how some little paint huffing kids would find a can of glass froster in dads shed amongst the other cans, and have a play... but if they reckon it's showing up on bud from the NL etc, maybe throws all that out the door. If I was shifting massive amounts of dope internationally (pity I'm not "smarter" haha) and wanted to get added weight in at some stage, methinks I'd wait til it was landed at the other end, not that being done for 10 kg is that much better than 15kg... but every little bit counts when you approach things as a business rather than a ... calling? Something. Govt's get involved in shifting drugs around all the time for various dark reasons, fair enough, gotta get that codeine out to the masses right or the medical system would fall over... gotta keep drugs in prisons, or you get all kinds of tension... gotta keep drugs in intellectual - working class - down n out society, or they'll start getting ideas AND having motivation to do something about em. But in the day of sueing people's arses off, not sure I can see the coppers or MIx or home office putting GLASS in lil timmy's brekkie bongs... putting MORE drugs out there, even shifty ones, is no way to stop people buying and selling drugs. The one mob I can think of with a real vested interest in this is anyone in the NL or similar that is growing the shit to go overseas, but ALSO sells seeds online... the old communist sunglasses theory maybe? Gonna up those seed sales though, in areas where there is less decent seed in circulation just by the nature of the place.

Makes less sense again for the govt. to be in on it, given the brits recent backsliding on personal amounts of the ganj.

More likely if we want t oget into eye in the pyramid business that it'd be brit seed vendors, wanting to write off the reps of NL product in general, they'd be pissed at the amount of ready cash paypalling its way to some bloke called SuperSven for a scant few allegedly magic beans.

in any case, it is a kind of terrorism... and we thought the weed could give you The Fear *HERE*

some people should go up in smoke

GD

Edited May 19, 2007 by greendreams

[apothecary]

I doubt it is the law enforcement putting it in, considering some UK users on the nook have put up photos of stuff they purchased with the grit in it.

[Evil Genius]

http://hanfjournal.de/hajo-website/artikel...deutschland.php

Unfortunately not in englisch but take a look at the pics on the bottom of the page! That´s disgusting! bye Eg

[Auxin]

the wonders of google

I dont think google knows much german slang

Thats some nasty stuff.

Apo, I can tell your not a conspiracy nut type The governments were embarased when epidemiological data came in and not only did cannabis use not increase cancer rate but it lowered it by a barely statistically significant level. And now the new generation of pot smokers is buying stuff laced with glass powder and limestone (some of which would burn to calcined lime and increase chances of cancer). ffs next they'll find 'skunk' laced with naphthalene!

Its either a text book example of extremist capitalism killing innocent people for money or the governments putting people at risk just to underhandedly advance their own agenda, to be honest I tend to suspect the former.... greedy bastards.

Back when I smoked dope I even got tainted weed from the Rastas! Thats how obscenely ubiquitous it is, pure samples cant even be reliably found for religion or medicine.

Edited May 19, 2007 by Auxin

[Evil Genius]

"Sometimes its Problemchen." Sounds like one of my translations :-) Most germans don´t even know german slang. Seems like the germans had a lot of the contaminated weed, as it probably came from the Neatherlands. This weed came up when some big busts happened. At the same time, the prices went up. I´m so glad i stopped smoking before that time. I hope that this shit has backfired because many people stopped smoking at that time.

Edited May 19, 2007 by Evil Genius

[chilli]

"I would say its used to add weight and to fake the look of shiny trichromes."

Yep, me too.

These people are total cunts.