I was only having this discussion yesterday with a UK hemp business owner in a yet to be published Karma Koala podcast episode.
We were discussing the Home office’s desire to close down any businesses actually attempting to be compliant with current regulations and start the creation of a responsible legal hemp / cannabis industry in the UK.
Except as we all know the Home office is so politicized in this day and age with Tory law and order thinking that even eminent Victorians would now be ashamed of .
A state of affairs where the black market runs rampant but the current Conservative party “thinkers” somehow perceive this will help with a bog-standard law and order political campaign in the run up to the general election in which they are about to be wiped off the map.
And let’s not be naive, Keir Starmer’s thinking on these issues is equally misguided.
Let’s hope that when Labour get into power somebody is sent into the Home Office to sweep out its current culture and that we see a deptartment that starts to think about solutions to the current economic reality that is the illegal cannabis market in the UK. Otherwise we’ll be seeing these headlines until 2124.
Animal tranquilliser found in cannabis vapes
People buying cannabis vapes and illicit sedatives to treat pain, anxiety and insomnia risk unknowingly consuming a powerful animal tranquilliser that can cause skin ulcers and overdoses.
Xylazine has been prevalent in the US for several years, where it is commonly found mixed with strong opioids, such as heroin or fentanyl, and has caused thousands of deaths.
Research from King’s College London has found that its presence has been steadily growing in the UK, causing multiple deaths since 2022, when the first fatality was identified.
Unlike in the US, in the UK xylazine has been found in counterfeit prescription drugs such as codeine, alprazolam (Xanax) and diazepam (Valium) tablets and vapes containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
Dr Caroline Copeland, senior author of the study, said: “This is cause for alarm as a much wider population of people who use drugs beyond heroin users will be exposed to its harms.
“We also know that most people who buy heroin will not intend to buy xylazine and this combination increases the risk of overdose. Xylazine was designated an ‘emerging threat’ to the United States and this public health threat is a growing concern for the UK.”
The findings, published in the Addiction journal, drew on evidence from all toxicology laboratories in the UK. The drug was found in 16 people, 11 of whom died.
In nine of the 11 confirmed deaths xylazine was found in combination with a strong opioid. The lack of this combination in the other two cases suggests xylazine was potentially consumed in an illicit sedative or vape.
Copeland said the total number of deaths is likely higher, since xylazine does not stay in the body for long. Since August 2023, the last death covered by the research, “we’ve had several more deaths so it is only continuing and increasing”, she said.
Xylazine is a non-opioid sedative, painkiller and muscle relaxant used in veterinary medicine, which can dangerously lower breathing and heart rate. It is known as tranq when cut with heroin and fentanyl. If injected directly into the user’s bloodstream it can form large open skin ulcers, which if infected may result in limb amputation.
