Fentanyl can be lethally dangerous. It will definitely kill you if you take too much. But contrary to what some law enforcement and public officials are saying in southern Georgia and Florida, there has never been a single confirmed case of fentanyl-laced weed, full stop.
Unfortunately, that’s not what you’ll hear from some folks who should know better in Camden County, Georgia. That county, on the Florida border, has experienced a rash of overdoses. Eight people were recently found unconscious from fentanyl ODs in just one day, reports WJCL. One of them later died.
Camden County officials thus had a great opportunity to warn the public, especially young folks, about the lethal danger in opioid narcotics. Instead, they totally blew it. They warned that various kinds of illicit drugs, ridiculously including marijuana, could be sold laced with fentanyl.
“At this time, ALL recreational use narcotics, including marijuana, should be considered a serious threat to life safety,” Camden County Emergency Management Authority said in a Facebook post, reports First Coast News.
Frothy Fentanyl Panic vs. Real Journalism
Public officials have an enormous responsibility to help keep local residents safe by giving them the actual facts. They had an opening to educate folks about the plenteous dangers of fentanyl. Instead, they chose to claim that it’s “fentanyl-laced weed” killing people. (Hey, Miami Herald. Why don’t you prove us wrong? Rush that list to us, with the names of the “dozens” of dead from fentanyl laced weed. Yeah, that’s what we thought.)
Making such outlandish claims is going to panic the most ignorant folks who read or hear it. The rest will immediately tune out the “information” because they can smell the BS all over it.
When you are trying to warn people of a public health crisis, maintaining credibility is, of course, very important. And anyone, of course, who claims you can OD on fentanyl by smoking weed just crapped the toilet when it comes to your credibility.
It’s Not Just Georgia
It’s breathtaking how quickly it happened. Fears and suspicions (and apparently vast ignorance) on the part of local officials are transformed into misleading headlines. The result was outright erroneous and false information in the press.
In Bradford County, Florida, the Sheriff’s Office is all in a lather, warning of what they call “a dangerous narcotic threat.”
Deputies said they “suspected” marijuana was laced with a ”strong opioid possibly fentanyl.” (It was almost certainly hash oil.) Two people they believe smoked the weed were hospitalized after an “overdose,” reports WCJB.
Both of those hospitalized were fine. Getting a little too high and then panicking isn’t an “overdose,” it’s a lack of judgment. (We’ve all known some neophyte stoner who smoked or ate a little too much and decided he or she was surely dying. Talking them down is a much better solution than sending them to the emergency room, in such cases.)
‘Dozens of People Have Died’ From Fentanyl Weed??
“Around the Southeast this year, dozens of people have died from fentanyl found in marijuana,” WCJB almost unbelievably reports as fact. They don’t cite any sources or any names of the dead. There’s a very good reason for that… there aren’t any.
The depth of the irresponsibility of this news outlet (and others!) is unfathomable.
Can you imagine the headlines if “dozens of people” were really dying from laced marijuana? Every newspaper and news show would cover it. (Not just from a couple of papers that need a new editor.) It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that. It would be a boon for the anti-drug crowd. Unfortunately for them, it just isn’t so.
The Fentanyl Facts, Jack
Anyone who buys white-powder street drugs like heroin or cocaine is, indeed, placing themselves in harm’s way. Those drugs could, and sometimes do, contain fentanyl.
The Cannabis flowers you’re buying are another matter entirely. It makes no economic sense to add a more expensive drug (fentanyl) to a less expensive herb (marijuana) to “cut” it. Dealers would be, in effect, giving away free fentanyl, and to what end, exactly? Perhaps to kill off their own customer base? You have to wonder about the thought processes and intellectual acumen of those who come up with these half-baked scenarios.
