Explaining his opposition to legal marijuana a couple of years ago, Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) warned that black-market weed is "laced with fentanyl." When former President Donald Trump invoked "fentanyl laced marijuana" on Saturday, his logic made a lot more sense: He cited that hazard as a reason to support Amendment 3, a Florida ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana in that state. But both arguments suffered from the same flaw: As far as we can tell, "fentanyl laced marijuana" is an imaginary threat.
Since it is a constitutional amendment, Florida's marijuana initiative would require support from 60 percent of voters to take effect. In two of three polls conducted this month, support fell shy of that threshold. The third poll put support at 63 percent, but the margin of error was plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. In a Truth Social post that implicitly endorsed Amendment 3, Trump nevertheless took it for granted that voters will approve the initiative in November, and he offered a few reasons to welcome that outcome.
"Someone should not be a criminal in Florida" for possessing marijuana "when this is legal in so many other States," Trump declared, saying such arrests "ruin lives & waste Taxpayer Dollars." He added that "no one should grieve a loved one because they died from fentanyl laced marijuana." It is hard to disagree with that statement or with the implicit premise that marijuana sold by state-licensed dispensaries is apt to be more reliable than marijuana purchased from black-market dealers. But there is no solid evidence that anyone has ever "died from fentanyl laced marijuana."
That scenario is doubtful on its face. Replacing or fortifying heroin with fentanyl, which is more potent and cheaper to produce, makes economic sense. So does pressing fentanyl into tablets disguised as pain pills that sell for $5 to $25 each on the black market. But it is not clear why pot dealers would surreptitously mix their product with fentanyl.
"Illicit-market weed sells for anywhere from $5 to $30 a gram in most states," Leafly writer Calvin Stovall noted in 2022. "Fentanyl is worth about $40 per 25 microgram patch (the low-end dosage for a cancer patient treating severe pain). A pure gram of fentanyl is worth up to $200. That means a weed dealer would have to spend $40 on a fentanyl patch, successfully extract the drug from the patch, and then 'lace' a $30 gram of their best weed to live up to these fantasies. In a best-case economic scenario, the dealer is losing $10 on every sale. Worst case, they are poisoning loyal customers and wasting fentanyl that could sell for more at a lower volume."
Stovall consulted a black-market pot dealer, who agreed that business strategy is highly implausible. "You can make money off of fentanyl by the microgram, just by cutting the dope with it," the dealer said. "Weed goes by the pound, though. So why put something expensive in a cheaper product? And for free?" The dealer, who could barely contain his laughter, added that "you definitely don't need to mix them up," since "they both sell just fine without each other."
Even if a pot dealer for some perverse reason was inclined to mix his product with fentanyl, the temperatures at which marijuana is smoked would burn up the fentanyl before it could be absorbed in the lungs. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist, emergency physician, and addiction medicine specialist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, notes that "fentanyl breaks down/decomposes so quickly/easily at such low temp[eratures]" that adding it to smoked marijuana is not a practical delivery method. "Could a commercial vape be used for fentanyl?" he writes. "It is possible but it would have to be very intentional."
Back in 2021, Robert Lawlor, an intelligence officer working for the New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, expressed similar skepticism. "Marijuana [mixed with] fentanyl has been sort of an urban legend for a couple years now," Lawlor told Forbes writer Chris Roberts. "From a business standpoint, it doesn't make sense to put fentanyl on marijuana."
When someone buys legal marijuana products, New York's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) noted last October, "they are lab tested and labeled accurately
according to those lab tests." But to its credit, especially given the difficulties that New York has encountered in trying to displace the black market, the OCM did not claim that such information protects consumers against fentanyl in marijuana.
"Misinformation related to the danger of accidental overdose due to cannabis 'contaminated' with fentanyl remains widespread," the OCM said. "Anecdotal reports of fentanyl 'contaminated' cannabis continue to be found to be false, as of the date of this publication." Although "there is no guarantee that any unregulated cannabis product is free from contaminants or harmful ingredients," it added, "there have been zero verified incidents of fentanyl 'contamination' in cannabis." And since "fentanyl is not found in the cannabis supply," the OCM advised, "it is not recommended to use fentanyl test strips to test cannabis."
One example of the "misinformation" that the OCM mentioned was a November 2021 announcement from the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), which said it had received 39 reports since the previous July of "patients who have exhibited opioid overdose symptoms and required naloxone for revival" but who "denied any opioid use and claimed to have only smoked marijuana." As the OCM notes, "many people who use opioids are stigmatized in health care settings," which "contributes to mistrust that can result in inaccurate self-reporting or failure to disclose opioid use due to fear of inequitable care or punitive interventions by law enforcement."
According to the Connecticut DPH, just one sample of marijuana had tested positive for fentanyl. That finding attracted a lot of attention at the time. But CT Insider later reported that an investigation revealed it "was probably caused by accidental contamination."
Police periodically claim to have discovered evidence of fentanyl-laced marijuana. But as Stovall noted, those reports always prove to be unfounded.
In a country where more than 60 million people use marijuana every year, you would expect to see many fentanyl overdoses among pot smokers if this were a real problem. The lack of confirmed cases provides further reason to believe it is not.
The OCM's take is notable because New York's marijuana regulators, who want consumers to patronize state-licensed retailers instead of unauthorized dealers, have a strong incentive to emphasize the potential dangers of black-market marijuana. You likewise might expect the Partnership to End Addiction (PEA), formerly known as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, to hype the hazards of pot smoking. The organization nevertheless joins the OCM in describing fentanyl-laced marijuana as a myth.
"You might have heard some worrying stories or rumors saying that marijuana may be laced with fentanyl," the PEA says. Those rumors "are false," it declares. "There is no solid evidence that marijuana is being laced with fentanyl."
Fentanyl "is destroyed when it is burned including when it is in a joint, blunt or other means of smoking marijuana," the PEA explains. "This means that even if it is mixed with marijuana flower it will have no effect on a person who is smoking it."
What about vape pens? "Most commonly available vape pens don't reach temperatures over 450 degrees Fahrenheit," the PEA says. "This is because higher temperatures will destroy the substances they are intended to be used with including marijuana. Vape pens would have to reach temperatures closer to 900 degrees Fahrenheit to vaporize fentanyl. Even if the marijuana is contaminated or mixed with fentanyl, the fentanyl would be destroyed before it's absorbed." As for fentanyl in marijuana edibles, "the risk is very low because fentanyl is broken down by the liver, with little chance of reaching the brain."
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has warned the public about fentanyl in heroin, "fake prescription pills," cocaine, and methamphetamine. But as the PEA notes, the DEA has never issued an alert about fentanyl-tainted marijuana. Last year, when I asked the DEA if it had any evidence of cannabis or nicotine vape products contaminated by fentanyl, the best it could muster was a September 2020 report of an overdose involving intentional vaping of fentanyl.
The Utah Department of Public Safety nevertheless claims "marijuana laced with fentanyl is a very real threat to young adults." The Claudia Black Young Adult Center, a drug treatment provider in Arizona, likewise insists that "fentanyl-laced marijuana is on the rise," citing the 2021 report from Connecticut.
Given the persistence of such unvalidated claims, it is not surprising that politicians like Rubio and Trump continue to echo them. At least Trump drew the logical conclusion from this imaginary threat, since it is prohibition that creates the hazards associated with drugs of unknown composition.
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