Contamination Pandemic - Someone Please 'Sticky'!

Hi all

Please forgive me if this has already been made public here; I couldn't use the search function for some reason.

Hopefully, most of you may already have heard about it, but last year, a large-scale cannabis contamination came to light in France, Germany, then the UK (here it is in response to Operation Keymer, a series of large police raids that took place on growers last Summer). As I write, the UK is still suffering, and clean cannabis is very, very hard to come by; what is about is often damp, badly cured, overpriced or underweight.

Despite our repeated bombardment of the local and national press, news stations, MPs and all others in a position to do something, we only got a PublicHealth Warning issues here in the last few weeks, so a number of people have been reportedly hospitalised, and many, many millions of others smoking this stuff, possibly with no clue about it's existence, or what to look out for.

While this is predominantly a European issue (it is now starting to appear in Switzerland, too), pictures reached me last week of some turning up in New York, so this is something everyone needs to be made aware of.

The only officially confirmed contaminant at this stage is silica beads - - but bearing in mind that the government are not exactly busting their balls to bring us the latest, here's a quick list of other known or rumoured contaminants that have been found (more may emerge; I shall update this thread regularly):

• Sand
• Brick dust
• Glue
• Sugar water
• Brix products
• Ground glass
• Fibreglass particles

Wherever possible, know your product, know your dealer, grow if you can, and if you can't, test the product before you part with any cash. To test for contaminants:
- Dampen a finger and pres it into the buds, or into the trichomes (the shiny bits on the leaves and buds).
- Put the finger in your mouth and scrape it along your teeth.
- If you taste grit or a hard texture when you bite down, the weed is contaminated.

Inhaling silica can cause long tem respiratory diseases, notably silicosis which can be fatal years after exposure to the particles.
Inhaling fibreglass can cause 'farmers lung' type infections, and asbestosis, which can be fatal.
Inhaling glass particales can cause cuts to the mouth, sore throats and chest pains.
Basically, smoking anything that you haven't paid for, that could potentially harm you is not good.

There is a ton of info here: www.ukcia.org and here: www.lca-uk.org

Please spread the word, people. Be vigilant!

Peace
ZG

 

Yeah, there's nothing but contaminated cannabis over here at the moment. It's terrible to smoke, obviously. The only solution really is growing, or if you know a grower, getting it from them.
A lot of the dealers don't even know their stuff has been contaminated because it's being done by the higher ups.

It's fucking ridiculous, and people better not buy this shit. They expect us to just sit back and smoke it because there's nothing better.

If ever there was a time for pushing legalisation it's now.

 

We're working on it, believe me! David Cameron has promised to look into the whole medical debate if he gains power, with a view to potential decrim further down the line. Blair seems to have his head way too far up Bush's ars to be bothered about what is actually happening in his own country.

We did have a public health warning issues though, albeit about 8 months too late, and in a typically prohibitionist fashion. You can read it, and all the other relted news here: www.ukcia.org

 

shit whats going on over there.

is it really that hard to tell that youve got shit all over your weed? or are the people who are getting fucked up from it noobs?

do you realise that glue and sugar are the only ones on that list that will cause you any harm? the others wont burn! sweet!

look closely and use a bong, i say

 

I use screens, too...

 

But the point is no-one's sure what it is, I've heard rumours that it's a mystery drug, although personally I'm quite sceptical about that one. If it is though, a bong wouldn't make any difference. I would also have thought it would be quite hard to miss, but I guess if people aren't experienced or the particles are REALLY small...

 

Yeah, I heard it won't burn, but a lot of people are getting their mouths and all cut up by the glass in it (which looks like THC on the buds, so it's difficult to tell). It's not just noobs.

 

that really sucks

i guess some crackheads are entering the scene and makin lots of money of stoners

 

i bought that shit a few times without noticing. i smoked it but very coutiosly because i didnt know whether it was cont. or not. but it was coated in little crystals like thc, and when i kept em in a baggy loads of christals came off, was strange. also it was really really rough on the lungs etc. say would smoking this a few times seriosuly lead to you dieing?

also i was planning on growing in summer, but this bollocks has fastened everything up abit. im waitning for my beutiful little lowriders to sprout now

 

pfft this is stupid...

and it's not really like adding any of those things to weed is new

 

This is normal. Lots of buds that I get have tons of cystals on them, when in a baggy they seem to stick to the bag or fall off just by touch them. And the rough on your lungs could be the weed might not have been flushed of all the nutriates.

 

Actually, it's just scumbag dope dealers, trying to make up weight to get back the profits they all lost thanks to Op Keymer last summer.

As a point of note, inhaling silica particles can cause silicosis (which can be fatal), inhaling glass particles as someone pointed out can cut the mouth and throat, and if sand or glass particles are actually inhaled into the lungs, they will stick, and cause respiratory problems...so all of the contaminants are potentially dangerous; do you think I wouldn't have done extensive research before posting something like this? I'm not a first-year smoker, sweetie... We have been researching this very real problem for months.

Digitalldj: Can I recommend you get a new supplier? This is not normal at all, and in 15 years of smoking, I have never seen any contaminants in weed before this...

 

the point i was making is that these particles wouldnt be inhaled if you smoked through a bong, sweetie

anyway i think one of teh reasons ive not seen any contamination at all (unless it was some sort of flyspray as they talk about) is because no one weighs out weed amounts around here except the reliable dealers. if theyre scumbag, they always seem to have the 'take it or leave it' attitude. or if theyre on the street 'take it or take it, ****'

 

ye but isnt the smoke actually fumes of the particles burning, so even if u bong it u still inhale the shitty chemicals :/

 

only the glue and sugar burn, all these other things are bad because they get caught in your lungs.

i dont know what sort of glue is easily missed when coated onto weed, but sugar water could easily disguise weed to people who havnt a lot of experience inspecting weed.

all im saying is that as shit as it is that people are doing this, its not like most of these things cant be detected or at least harm averted

because if its such a pandemic, surely people can keep their guard up when dealing with random dealers.

perhaps im just not sensitive enough to the problems brittish people are facing, from all ive heard its rare to find weed at all in the UK streets

 

Yes, but if we just say "okay, let's use a bong instead" and keep buying it, then the guys at the top have no reason to stop doing this and all weed becomes contaminated and it never gets any better. I think it'd be better to just not buy it and show them that we won't just sit there and take it.

 

lol once again, thats not my point, i mean as a precaution for all those people who are paranoid about whats in their weed, if you have some weed and you think it might be a bit odd, are you going to take it back to the dealer and say, 'no, i want my money back and im going to boycott you until you start playing fair?'

no, a better idea would be to put it in the bong and filter out solid particles.

 

ps. i dont think boycotting dealers works, from what i know, weed dealers prefer to get a large bunch of weed, chuck it into seperate bags, and sell it off, teh faster the better. no point wasting time with preparing dodgy weed if you have the business to sell off untouched weed in the same amount of time. but it could be different in uk where weed is a rather limited resource

 

You just contradicted yourself; all contaminants are potentially harmful. Fact. Sorry, but it's true...

I know that and you know that, but there are a lot of young, inexperienced and gullible smokers out there that need to be made aware. Also, a lot of people here hand over the cash before the stuff lands; there is no way for these people to check out what hey are buying first.

In any case, it isn't just about the danger factor; it's also about people being ripped off - something that never happened in the UK scene before Op K.

I realise that there is a contingency of people that will carry on smoking this shit, regardless; it is them that need to be educated, otherwise, like NIghtwalk said, it will never stop.

Arse water. 3 million people (around 5% of the population) use cannabis regularly here, and 6 million have tried it.

Also, you sem to be addressing this purely as a UK problem - 'It isn't here, so I don't care'. If you had read my whole post, you'd see that this is happening all over Europe, and has now reached part of the States. Don't be complacent; nobody is immune.

You seem to have some kind of a problem with me; would that assumption be correct? And if so, may I ask why??

A better idea still would be trying before you buy, non?

Weed is not a limited resource here... I don't know where you get your info, but it's way off.

Of course boycotting dealers would work; if they lose all their busineess, they'll soon clean up.

 

i get my info from these boards and from all the people i know whove been to england and lived in england and there is a very common theme running that they couldnt get a hold of weed most of the time, instead hash was the form of cannabis smoked.

i didnt contradict myself but i dont really care about this anyway, effective boycotting occurs naturally among proper dealers who have rep among customers - if they have shit weed they will be recognised for it. these are teh dealers people should be going to, not the street dealers who are trying to rip everyone off.

i just think this is a far cry from a contamination pandemic, if thats because it doesnt occur over here then i can be complacent. maybe dealers will catch on to what seems to be working over there, but when that happens, ill be sure to know about it.