**Despite Denials, Experts Say Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana Is A Growing Problem**
Despite Denials, Experts Say Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana Is A Growing Problem
_Authored by Katie Spence via The Epoch Times (https://www.theepochtimes.com/despite-denials-experts-say-fentanyl-laced-marijuana-is-a-growing-problem_5273311.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge) (emphasis ours),_
Twenty-one states, plus the District of Columbia, have legalized recreational marijuana for adults as of April 2023. And while marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, **88 percent of adults think it should be legalized for medical and recreational use**, according to an October 2022 Pew Research Center survey (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/22/americans-overwhelmingly-say-marijuana-should-be-legal-for-medical-or-recreational-use/)—a significant increase from 1999’s 31 percent.
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_Cannabis plants grow inside of Thrive Cannabis' production facility in Simcoe, Ontario, on April 13, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Tara Walton)_ (
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Additionally, 55 million Americans currently use marijuana, and 45 percent of the population has tried it at least once, according (https://drugabusestatistics.org/marijuana-addiction/) to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics.
But as attitudes and state laws change regarding marijuana—and its use increases— **reports of marijuana laced with substances like the synthetic opioid fentanyl, are also increasing.**
“One of the trends that we saw secondary to the pandemic was individuals stopped reporting opioid use as their primary drug of choice, and it seems to be replaced with marijuana and methamphetamine,” Teresa Russell, the director of criminal justice outreach in Dayton, Ohio, told The Epoch Times. Russell works between the county jail and community health and treatment facilities.
Russell explained that when someone is booked into the jail and needs to detox, they’re asked about drugs they’ve taken and must take a urine drug screen. Russell said it’s becoming increasingly common for someone to say they’ve only used marijuana but then pop positive for fentanyl.
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_Teresa Russell, treatment coordinator at the Montgomery County jail, in Dayton, Ohio, on Oct. 30, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)_ (
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“They genuinely don’t know that \[opioids are\] in there,” Russell said. “They have no idea what’s actually being put inside their substances. That’s an ongoing trend of what we’re seeing.”
When explicitly asked if marijuana is being laced with fentanyl and showing up on drug screens, Russell confirmed that’s what she’s seeing.
“ **We hear that not just from my team here in the jail from our intake screens, but we’re hearing that from our outreach partners.**”
NORML, a nonprofit public-interest advocacy group pushing for the legalization of marijuana, is quick to downplay the issue of fentanyl-laced marijuana.
“Rarely a week goes by without police or other public officials warning about so-called ‘fentanyl-laced’ weed. Upon closer inspection, however, there’s little if any truth behind these sensational claims,” NORML says on its site (https://norml.org/blog/2022/10/04/norml-op-ed-claims-of-fentanyl-laced-cannabis-are-common-but-are-they-accurate/).
“It’s controversial,” Russell said of fentanyl-laced marijuana, “But I have urine drug screens that show it.”
Russell isn’t the only one sounding the alarm on what she believes is a growing issue.
Cases
On Feb. 10, two students at North Mac High School in Illinois, were found to be in possession and under the influence of marijuana, and two field tests administered by the Virden Police Department found that the marijuana was positive for fentanyl.
Kyle Hacke, the superintendent of North Mac, said in a statement (https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/wandtv.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/11/a118021a-abf3-11ed-832e-af5614139522/63eac36e9dd4a.pdf.pdf), “We are fairly certain our students did not know they were ingesting fentanyl. Fentanyl-laced drugs … continue to show up in small communities like ours nationwide. We implore you to speak with your children and take necessary steps to combat this danger.”
On Nov. 17, 2022, police in Leeds, Alabama, charged Jose Ingnacio Medina-Estrada with murder after he allegedly sold marijuana that was laced with fentanyl. The buyer—who believed he was only purchasing marijuana according (https://www.facebook.com/leeds…