Sources: Addictions.com; Daily Mail CO UK; MSN.com
Fentanyl, a powerful opioid, is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. Just 2 milligrams of the substance can be lethal. When other, less-potent drugs are laced with it, they can be deadly, too.
Connecticut has seen nearly 40 drug overdoses that officials believe to be linked to marijuana laced with fentanyl. (And) officials have also identified fentanyl-laced cannabis in New York.
Some have doubted the validity of these claims, pointing to lack of proof or anecdotal evidence. Other critics have wondered if warnings about marijuana laced with fentanyl are simply the latest tactic in the war on drugs in an attempt to scare people away from marijuana. But there is also evidence which says otherwise.
After all, why would marijuana be laced with fentanyl — and why aren’t users aware that it’s there? Madeline Hilliard, an ambulance driver and CEO of Trojan Awareness Combatting Overdose (TACO) in Los Angeles, believes one of the main reasons is cross-contamination.
“Marijuana and fentanyl are being divided up for packaging and selling on the same table or surface without adequate sanitizing,” she says. And since a lethal dose of fentanyl is roughly the size of two grains of sand, it would be easy for it to kill marijuana users.
Hillard’s theory dovetails into the assessment of forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden concerning the deaths of three men in Kansas on January 7, 2024: the frozen bodies of David Harrington, Ricky Johnson, and Clayton McGeeney were found in the back yard of the Kansas home of Jordan Willis, a HIV researcher and protein scientist.
The men didn’t return home or contact their families after they went there with a fourth man to watch the Kansas City Chiefs-Los Angeles Chargers football game, and Willis didn’t contact anyone for nearly two days afterward. As of now, no arrests have been made, no cause of death has been released, and toxicology reports aren’t due for at least four more weeks.
Dr. Baden says, “They may not have known what was in what they were taking, and got confused. One passes out indoors and sleeps it off. All the others are outdoors, pass out, and die of the cold.
“I’m sure the police already know; I’m sure this Willis person is talking and cooperating with them. The police are looking for whoever supplied the drug, and when they find out, they’ll release the information.”
Click for additional information on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and Narcan (which is now availabe over the counter).