Experts issue warning over cannabis sweets laced with Spice
It’s after a 23-year-old woman died after eating a synthetic cannabis sweet that she’d ordered on a messaging app.
A man’s since been charged fkem with possession with intent to supply Class B synthetic cannabinoid.
The Loop says it’s worried about a rise in the popularity of cannabis sweets known as gummies.
That’s because without testing, it’s impossible to tell what’s inside them.
“People are taking advantage of this,” Guy Jones, a senior scientist at The Loop, tells Newsbeat.
“With herbal cannabis you can look at it you can smell it to decide whether it’s real cannabis or not. With these highly processed forms, that is completely out of the window.”
What’s the difference?
Both cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids – commonly referred to as Spice – are illegal to produce possess, distribute or sell
in the UK. Some people can be legally prescribed cannabis by healthcare professionals for various medical conditions, however.
Possession can result in up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine (or both), supply and production can result in up to 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine (or both).
Police can give you an on-the-spot fine of £90 if you are caught with cannabis.
One is grown, the other is created in a lab – designed to latch on the same receptors in the brain as cannabis, but with a completely different chemical structure.
So even though some of the effects might seem familiar, the potential for different side effects is very different.
Synthetic cannabinoids can cause hallucination, extreme paranoia and in the highest doses even death.