I told you earlier this year the story of the German weed that had been found laced with lead particles to give it extra weight. A far more insidious contaminant has popped up over in Europe – tiny glass particles to add weight. They look like shiny resin glands and if you smoke them, well, you can probably figure out that glass + lungs = health problems. The UK’s National Health Service issued this warning:
The Department of Health has recently received information suggesting that batches of herbal and ‘skunk-type’ cannabis have been contaminated with microscopic glass-like beads (or possibly ground glass). Laboratory testing has since confirmed a number of cases from a number of different parts of the country, in which cannabis appears to contain microscopic particles of glass. We have no information on other types of cannabis such as resin.
Now we’re receiving emails warning of the same danger being found in the Northeastern United States:
Unfortunately this is not a hoax!!! There is someone putting ground up glass shards in the bud to make it weigh more. I’ve seen it first hand and have even viewed it through a microscope. BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU BUY AND KNOW WHERE IT’S COMING FROM!!!
After doing some research online, it seems this has been a recent epidemic in the UK. People have been going to the hospital coughing up blood and numerous other adverse health effects.
Contaminated Marijuana Characteristics
The first noticeable thing is the size of the bag, a 1/4 oz. looks like an 1/8, as the glass adds a lot of weight.
Secondly, after handling the bud there’s a sandy or gritty feeling on your fingers.
Besides that there’s almost no way to detect it by eye. Even held under a light and carefully inspected, the glass particles appear to be resin glands, they’re even the same color.
The best way to detect it is to put everything through a grinder. When opening there’s a strange puff cloud of glass dust that goes into the air. The glass will immediately sift through the screen as it is granular and dry, not sticky. When sifted the glass moves strangely, like sand in an hour glass.
The massive amount of glass in the photo was collected in only 2 grams of pot.
The contaminated pot turned up just this week in Wolfeboro, NH.
You know what you never hear of? A distillery spiking their alcohol with contaminants in order to make a higher profit. In a taxed and regulated alcohol market, there are inspections and quality control and strict penalties for violations. In the legal market, there isn’t enough risk-added profit to motivate sellers to break the rules.
But the more I think of it, the less I think dealers grinding up glass to pump up profits by adding weight makes sense. According to the Drug Czar’s 2008 Marijuana Sourcebook, 81% of the people who buy weed buy it from a friend or relative, and usually at a home, dorm, or apartment – your friend isn’t adding the glass, or he ain’t a friend. Your friend gets it from “a Guy”. Guy makes his living selling bulk weed to a few such friends – he can’t really risk blowing his distribution setup once his few dealers start getting complaints and losing business. And if one of these dealers finds out Guy is selling them jacked-up weed? Stoner, please! And if your big-time mover or cartel is adding glass, we’d see a whole lot more of it on the streets than we’ve seen so far.
So maybe a few anonymous dime-bag park deals might be the place to turn your $20 of weed into $40 by adding glass, but where are these street hustlers finding the time to grind up a bunch of glass into itty-bitty particles? And how many times are they getting away with it before some savvy cannabis consumer feels grit in the bag and kicks their ass?
Suppose for a moment, though, that you’re a renegade county sheriff or frustrated drug war bureaucrat, realizing you’re losing the public perception battle on marijuana, because nobody really sees that much harm in it. Maybe you believe marijuana smokers are just losers and animals anyway, and you’re just the guy to teach those dopers a lesson. Maybe when one of those potheads has a friend coughing up blood, that scare the young kids away from it, and you’ll have finally saved another parent’s child from the reefers! Maybe a pound or two disappears from an evidence locker and somehow makes it back onto the streets chock full o’ glass.
I’m just saying that this is another predictable harm of prohibition, not marijuana.
I live I’n SW Florida and just got a bag of silicone weed. It was mid grade dark green. I could not see it with plain daylight. Only when i held a small leaf up against a bright light did i notice it. It will have a transparent waxy appearance sometimes just a bit of shine I’n less saturated parts. Very Nasty stuff. I filtered the smoke through a paper towel and it turned reddish brown with a distinctive chemical scent unlike the usual resin scent. When you light this crap up you will notice a smell i say us similar to smoldering birthday candles. It also burns to a black hard ash and Will stick to your lighter if you try to put it out when you smoke a bowl. Do not smoke it. It can’t be filtered through a bong it can’t be fixedwith water. I have had a sore throat for days and a Heavy tight cough. On top of it i feel completely disgusted at myself for allowing myself to fall for this. When i asked my dealer who is A younger person just starting out I’n the business they were smoking it and said it was ok just stale and their entire house smelt of chemicals. How can ppl smoke this junk like it’s normal. I hope this was informative. Watch out and even seasoned smokers are fooled by the silicone spray weed. (chemical similar to WD-40)
i smoked this crap back in 2007,its still here in the uk……
grass any dealer up who has it!
the excuse that they didnt know does not work,because they do know!
even if its a so called friend,they’ve just tried making money off your ass.
they’ve not given a shit about your health…
its all about the money,even so called friendship….
i like baseball,,,,,,,,i like my bat too
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Berwick, Maine here, right on the New Hampshire border.
Yeah, grit weed has arrived.
Did the CD test, felt it between my fingers, noticed chest tightening.
I’m beginning to think this is a major, major problem with many different contaminants involved.
Shit.
I seen a story on this about a month ago on T.V. I think it was a show called Should I Smoke Dope. Its on tonight @ 11pm pacific. The BBC channel 264 on direct tv. I couldn’t believe it when I seen it. Thought it was a U K problem though. I wouldn’t smoke it, just trash it. Maybe even turn it over to the law. People that do this need to go to jail. This is why you grow your own.
filth, i also just tried the cd test and both kinds i have scratched the cd. then i did some research and found out that you don’t just rub the buds on the disc, you’ve gotta like squeeze/rub the bud above the cd so some kief (and grit if it’s there) falls onto the cd. then you rub what fell off over the cd with like some soft fabric. the second time around there were no scratches for me, thankfully! idk if you did the same as me, but if you did, then there you go!
So seriously people, demand more of your pot dealers, fuck beasters. Voice your opinion through the herb you buy, listen to Jason King and get the cannabibles if you don’t have them / haven’t read them. Once you develop a good eye for knowing what you are buying its like buying fruit at the grocery store, its just common sense. Another thing, everyone should invest in a small scale and a portable microscope (such as this: http://www.420science.com/420_scope/420scope.html) and you’ll never get ripped off again, and if you do – its your own fault!
When your weed acts like that in your bowl, the most likely suspect is failure to flush out all the fertilizers sufficiently. The blackness and hard ash sounds like they failed to turn off the CO2 soon enough before harvest. Take the time to do these small things and you will see a huge difference.
I’m pretty sure you don’t have glass, but the one way to know for sure is to grow your own or only smoke weed your mother grew.
Life’s a gamble. Each of us chooses when and why we throw the dice.
if the weed makes crackling noise when lit in a bowl and the ash is black does it automaticly make it grit weed? i just want to know cause here in brooklyn ny i wouldent expect this crap be to around
dude, there are more then 30+ types of it, and those are JUST the types they have discovered. :O
im in New Brunsiwck Canada, not a large population, and theres 3 or 4 diff. types around nthe whole prov. ALREADY :O
and its only been documented here around June. :l
Dude, if your in the Maritimes, i GAUREN-F&*KING-TEE you that you HAVE, without a doubt, smoked Grit Weed.
Im in Moncton NB (Btw best city in the east coast lol) and EVERYONE has grit weed, been smokin pot for years aqnd CANNOT even find 1 single person without it/ who hasnt had it., its at EPIDEMIC lvl’s, and most stoners are just stupid, ignorant & lazy and deny its existence, or dont think its even possible. Dont be a TOOL, and dont act a FOOL— dont smoke Grit Weed :O
pce & good luck.
I am from the Moncton-Metro area in New Brunswick, Canada;
and my msg is GRIT WEED IS HERE, and ESPECIALLY IN MONCTONS SISTER-TOWN RIVERVIEW ACROSS THE PETTY. If you are in Riverview aka the View, then WATCH OUT FOR GRIT WEED, I GAURENTEE YOU I KNOW THE HIGHER-UP PEOPLE AND **ALL**, YES–EVERY-SINGLE-ONE OF THEM IS SELLING GRIT WEED, AND DO NOT CARE. THEY KNOW ABOUT THE HEALTH EFFECTS, and DO NOT CARE ABOUT *YOU* —> So; say NO to ANY of your dealers from Riverview, and GROW YOUR OWN, ‘Cuz trust me (*Cough’s from writing this*) its NO BETTER IN MONCTON OR ASNYWHERE ELSE IN NEW BRUNSWICK– Good luck all, and SAY NO TO GRIT WEED!!! (And Alcohol, its society’s shit-stains.)
anyone seen this around Chicago? fyi, i have done the cd test on nieghbor closet herb, beasters, dealer headies, and mexi. everything scratches. i think it would be a little strange for around ten different kinds of pot to all be grit. especially the neighbor homegrown. this is jsut a bumemr cuz now i am super paranoid to buy the beast. srsly thought any hits in chi-town?
November 7, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I live in Tigard, oregon, and I got some of this Grit weed. It wouldn’t burn, that was the first sign, it was damp, with long tough leaves, so it appeared to be improperly dried. However, when broken open, it looked great, just full of crystals. It was totally placebo weed, in that you could smoke a lot, and barely feel it. But the real tip off was the was my mouth and lungs burned after smoking it, and my stomach almost felt as if it was having hunger pangs. So uncool for a pot dealer to taint his weed, aren’t we peaceful people? Get the word out, according to the internet, it is in the UK, east coast, and canada, but watch out folks, it’s here. I swear if I didn’t give it back to the SOB that ripped me off $300.00 an ounce for it, it would have caused some serious damage.
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