DANGER! GLASS WEED

[A.N.Other]

Mainstream national coverage you say?

:wink:

Warning issued over cannabis adulterated with glass beads


James Randerson, science correspondent
Friday January 12, 2007
The Guardian

Drug campaigners have warned that a batch of cannabis adulterated with tiny glass beads which they say could pose a risk to health has flooded the UK market. Anecdotal reports suggest it is being sold in almost every part of the country.

The charity Drugscope is issuing a warning. "We want to make people aware of it from a public health point of view. If you are smoking this stuff and taking it into your lungs it's not good news."

The fact that "grit weed", as it is being called, is so widespread suggests that contamination is happening at an early stage in the production process. "It seems to be being done on an industrial scale," said Harry Shapiro of Drugscope.

The dealers' motivation seems to be to bump up the weight of their product. They appear to be doing this by spraying plants with the reflective element from the paint used on road lines. The tiny reflective glass beads become imbedded in the leaves.

"It looks perfectly normal. In fact it looks good quality," said Derek Williams of UK Cannabis Internet Activists, which campaigns against cannabis prohibition.

Contributors to its internet forum have said the contaminated leaves can be identified by rubbing them between wetted fingers. The residue will feel gritty if chewed.

The first reports of grit weed circulated in late summer, but the groups have only recently received pictures of the beads taken with an electron microscope by an anonymous scientist. There have been rumours of users experiencing a tight chest for days after smoking grit weed, but a spokesperson for the British Thoracic Society said that the contamination was unlikely to be dangerous because the particles are too big to be inhaled into the lungs.

An analysis carried out by the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction found that the glass particles are between 0.02 and 0.3 millimetres across. But Richard Russell, a consultant at Imperial College London, said few particles above 0.015 millimetres would be able to pass into the lungs because they are too big.

"It is likely that they will deposit in the mouth or the throat," said Dr Russell. Here they would most likely pass harmlessly through the system. Using a filter would stop them entering the mouth.

Dr Russell said that smokers should be aware that cannabis smoke causes emphysema, lung inflammation and cancer. "You are likely to do more damage from the marijuana than these particles."

Mr Williams said that the widespread contamination highlighted the problems which stem from cannabis prohibition. "Cannabis is called a controlled drug, but there is no control over the supply side. It's a completely underground product," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1988627,00.html

 

[DocLeaf]

Thanks A. N. Other

"The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merge of state and corporate power." Benito Mussolini

 

[gaiusmarius]

about bloody time

 

[A.N.Other]

It's good to see (though it is the Guardian) this sentance:

Mr Williams said that the widespread contamination highlighted the problems which stem from cannabis prohibition. "Cannabis is called a controlled drug, but there is no control over the supply side. It's a completely underground product," he said.

Free our herb!

 

[DocLeaf]

Nah. Babylon nah care for you or me mate,,, (evil is their kingdom, their power, their glory)... dem vampire feed on mis-trust, uncertainty and corruption. Newspaper man/woman and politician nah care for the average smoker / person, if so they'd have come out an cast comment long before now,,, they live on us!

All an the yout shall witness the day that babylon shall fall,,, like fire fall!


"It's not all that glitters is gold
Half the story has never been told.

You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all of the people, all of the time,
So now you see the light (wat ya gonna do?)
Stand up for your rights (Jah)"

Robert Nesta Marley

 

[belfast]

Drug users warned of contaminated cannabis in Ireland

Drug users warned of contaminated cannabis in Ireland

12/01/2007 12:49:58

Drug users warned of contaminated cannabis

Cannabis users are being warned to watch out for batches of the drug that have been contaminated with tiny grains of a glass-like substance.

The herbal cannabis is believed to be coming into the country from Britain, where it has been in circulation for some time.

Greedy dealers are understood to be spraying the drug with the same substance used as reflective material in road markings.

The Crosscare organisation says the contamination is designed to boost the weight of the cannabis and increase profits.

The group says it has received around 20 calls from concerned drug users and is warning that the adulterated cannabis can cause severe chest infections and discomfort.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/story.asp?j=172950240&p=y7z95x83x&n=172950929&archive=12/01/2007

 

[A.N.Other]

Word is getting out there belfast!

Hi, DocLeaf. Generally speaking "newspaper man/woman and politician nah care for the average smoker / person", but then generally the average man/woman full stop doesn't care for the average smoker or indeed person either. Altruism has never been our societies strong suit.

I don't truely think we live in a 'them' and 'us' world though. I just think there are lots and lots of different types of 'us'. Each with different moral values, stemming from different priorities, different ambitions and different backgrounds.

There are the stupid, the cruel, the dishonest and the narrow minded in all walks of life but the flip side of that is that equally there are intelligent, well meaning, honest and open minded folks across an equally broad spectrum or humanity!

Without these people swimming slowly against the tide, doing whatever they can, no matter how small we'll never get anywhere. Rome wasn't built in a day and we are fighting near a hundred years of misinformation, propoganda and negative stigmatism. In terms of this, the warning article is fairly positive; it attempts to link this horrible and dishonest contamination (greed!) to prohibition, a side effect of prohibition if you like, rather than using the age old "drug users are criminals and are dealing in a criminal market, the only way to stop this horror is to legislate harder, jail them all NOW, intolerable peasants". And hey, this is a national newspaper, the key message, that this contamination is a present danger is getting out there to a wider audience.

I think we should give folk credit where credit is due and try not to let our culture fall foul of the pessimism that has seeped into society at large. WE, every man, woman and child can change things, little-by-little-bit-by-bit just by living our lives, sticking by our moral guns and proving that cannabis user (or drug user full stop depending on your stance) does not inherently equal sub normal.

The tide hasn't turned in our favour yet as evidenced by the always included "remember kids drugs are bad" paragraph and it may even take another generation BUT the surf is rising. When it's 6 foot and clean we can all grab our wax and go for a surf!

 

[DocLeaf]

Hi A. N. Other

Media gatekeepers do not need to choose the stories that don't make the pages of their papers. There is a good chance that this story surfaced way back yonder,,, but for some reason, the editor didn't decided to run with the story until now

I agree that the smallest actions often causes the most profound reaction! :wink:

peace dude
dL

 

[Guest]

that scientist who did the test makes me sick. he's basically saying smoking glass is less harmful than cannabis because the shards are too big to enter your lungs. did he forget about the throat?i'm sure swallowing glass isn't too healthy. his reasoning seems to be well it's illegal so it doesn't matter. scumbag.
I just got ripped off again today with some more laced gritty glass weed. it's been done more professionally this time though. just bite your buds and you can tell straight away. i threw it at a friend didn't even want it in my presence. well i was gonna just put it in the bin but my friend says don't throw it away so..i'd rather be sober than have an adulterated high.

 

[Hashmasta-Kut]

i think this glass weed is DEA/CIA based.

 

[herbologist]

The weed we are seeing out of BC sucks.Beastee buds,chemicals,unflushed product.poor strains designed for weight.

Be well, Be safe. herbie.

 

[Elevator Man]

i think this glass weed is DEA/CIA based.

Much as I would love to believe that the DEA/CIA have infiltrated the dealing scenes of places like Macclesfield and Croydon, it's pretty obvious this is a cash-based scam, rather than political. This is produced by the dope world, due to lack of regulations.

Still, it's now a national issue, thanks to this thread and others like it - I doubt they will get away with it for much longer. And a few well-placed emails to the right person in the media can often make a big difference. Many journalists smoke dope too, remember...

 

[EddieShoestring]

Much as I would love to believe that the DEA/CIA have infiltrated the dealing scenes of places like Macclesfield and Croydon

the Macclesfield Field Office will have logged that

but seriously -there have been plenty of threads about this on UK based ganja forums-but still a need to get the info out as the majority of punters/growers don't use such forums

IanS

 

[Hashmasta-Kut]

The weed we are seeing out of BC sucks.Beastee buds,chemicals,unflushed product.poor strains designed for weight.

Be well, Be safe. herbie.

2 bad for u... cuz all my B.C. buds are pretty fuckin' primo.. ~("v*)~

 

[Guest]

OMH now that was good for a laugh

Where did you get that from Doc? Somebody actin like a BG?

 

[gaiusmarius]

Oh yeah, and that Basement Lighting . com , we put our own reporters on the case(cheers SSUK). What a bunch of philistines, they couldn't give a f*ck about that Brix stuff they're selling,,, they said it was "democracy"!

arrogant fucks, i know that brix shit isn't the worst of stretching shit, but it was the beginning of the whole idea of cheating to increase your weight. they are the for runners in this horrible philosophy of make as much money as possible and screw the cost to others.

we must boycott Basement lighting. how dare they call that democracy? there will always be cheats who buy that kind of shit, but what's that to do with democracy. in fact the majority wants them to stop selling such adulterating products.

if i owned that place i'd take that brix shit out of my stock right quick, actually i'd never have stocked it in the first place. i mean who wants to be famous on ic mag, as seller of stretching products for cannabis?

 

[DocLeaf]

stretching products for cannabis?

great term gaiusmarius

'stretching products for cannabis' will exist so long as certain shop-'fronts' continue to fill the gaps of ignorance with the profits from their customers pockets.

In a word 'capitalism', about which greed is the least feared nemesis, consumes its own variety no sooner than drawing its first stipend!

peace
dLeaf

 

[Guest]

I don't think boycoting the site is the answer but eliminating brix is a start. Find out if brix is actually unhealthy, prove it, then you guys could have some headway in eliminating the problem. I know brix isn't what the whole hoop-la is about, but its a start and the rest will just have to run it's course.

 

[gaiusmarius]

imagine if orange growers started injecting the oranges with water to make them heavier? it's just not on.

instead of selling products to make the plants grow as well as possible they sell a horrible adulterating substance. the growers who use that shit are even worse. instead of learning to get more yield and looking for the best yielding and hitting strains, they are stretching their product to get that bit extra that they are too lazy to learn how to get from the plants naturally. pathetic if you ask me. even if it's not harmful as such, it's dishonest to stretch your shit with anything. worse is that it is very likely what gave people the idea with the glass, sand etc. selling that shit has opened Pandora's box, when it comes to stretching cannabis.

 

[Truth]

I always look at what I get before I get it. I always have a magnifying glass with me, and if it isn't any good, I will tell the person to take their business elsewhere. They don't like it, but too bad. When people STOP buying it and START looking at it first before buying, then you can put a stop to this glass weed very quickly. If no one will take it off their hands, they WILL stop selling it. this is all about profit for them, and if they make no profit, they will ditch the glass weed. This is another reason why you should grow your own. I keep seeing people say in this thread and others, 'I got ripped on some glass weed today' and it amazes me that they complain. if you aren't smart enough to check it out before buying, you brought it on yourself. even if all you can find is glass weed, don't settle for it. I'd rather do without.