Fentanyl-laced marijuana cases are on the rise, with dangerous consequences, according to Washington doctors.
“In my clinical practice and among some of my colleagues, more and more children report that they thought they were just smoking marijuana if their drug test detected fentanyl. There will be consistent toxicological or medical side effects,” said Dr. Michael Wenzinger, a psychiatrist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told KTVI Fox2 on Sunday.
Wenzinger said concerns about fentanyl-laced marijuana are a recent phenomenon. Police claim to have found fentanyl-laced marijuana in Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana and New York. Lethal opioids are used to increase the potency of drugs at a cheap price.
Wenzinger noted that marijuana’s potency has increased significantly in recent decades, and that whether dealers did it intentionally or accidentally, fentanyl strings could exacerbate concerns. bottom.
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“It’s becoming more of an unintended experiment of ‘how this potent marijuana affects young people,'” he said.
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One of these concerns, Wenzinger said, could exacerbate mental health problems. A May study published in the journal Psychological Medicine found that up to 30% of cases of schizophrenia in men aged 21 to 30 could have been prevented without sustained marijuana use. found.
The proportion of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, increased by more than 200% from 1995 to 2015. Wenzinger said parents need to be made aware that this drug is very different from what they used to smoke. teens.
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“Marijuana, which they may have been familiar with since childhood, is not what we are dealing with now,” Wenzinger said. “We’re working on a ball game of almost different power than we’ve ever had before.”
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Wenzinger said he doesn’t want to cause panic, but that marijuana is being deregulated nationwide, so parents should discuss the risks of marijuana use with their children.
“When it comes to teenage drug use, there is a tendency for use to rise as public awareness of the risks declines,” Wenzinger said. “So it’s no surprise that marijuana use is on the rise.”