Drug sellers promoting fizzy drinks laced with super-strength substances to children
EXCLUSIVE: A Daily Star Sunday investigation discovered dealers targeting teens with fizzy pop mixed with high-potency THC, the active ingredient in cannabis
Drug dealers are selling drinks laced with super-strength weed to kids, a Daily Star Sunday investigation has found.(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Drug dealers are selling drinks laced with super-strength weed to kids, a Daily Star Sunday investigation has found. They’re targeting teens with fizzy pop mixed with high-potency THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
The Daily Star Sunday spoke to a weed dealer who showed us his stock of home-made drinks called Lemonadez: a hash resin-infused beverage. The £10 250ml bottles bear a picture of Mr Man with flavours including strawberry, cherry, lemon, pineapple and apple.
He said: “The kids love the lemonadez as they can just sit in the park and drink it and no one knows what it is. I make it myself using oil from resin, which I mix in with the flavoured lemonade. It’s strong but it tastes really good. The youngsters are after something a bit different than just spliffs and vapes, especially the girls – it’s a bit like hooch for them, but instead of alcohol, it’s weed.”
Drinks containing CBD are legal in the UK, but not THC. Yet we found several encrypted UK-based online sellers peddling drinks containing THC.
They’re copying methods used by manufacturers in parts of the US and Canada, where cannabis is legal, using terpenes from the plants and soaking the extract in high-proof alcohol. Some are posting videos showing how to make the pot pop on Instagram.
One user who tried the Lemonadez wrote in a review on the seller’s encrypted Telegram page: “After downing the whole bottle, around an hour later I felt a strong warm buzz, with a slight wave of heaviness around my eyes, very relaxed but alert at the same time, then a strong buzz rushed through my body.”
But there are concerns dealers are lacing the drinks with cheaper synthetic cannabis, sparking health issues like severe anxiety, psychosis symptoms, rapid heart rate, dizziness, and vomiting.
Cannabis researcher and neuroscientist Daniele Piomelli said: “There’s a large body of evidence suggesting a link between cannabis use in adolescence and increased risk of psychosis.
“The real problem is that, like many things in the US, we don’t do moderation well. Some of these seltzers now contain up to 100mg of THC.
“That’s enough to send even an experienced user to the hospital if they’re not expecting it. Not because THC is deadly – you can’t overdose fatally on THC, even if you tried. But the experience can be incredibly unpleasant and disorienting, and recovery might take a couple of days.”
Persistent super-strength cannabis use has also led to a rise in hospital admissions for severe vomiting.
NHS Trusts all over England and Wales are warning that heavy dosing is causing a terrifying condition called Cannabinoid Hyperemises Synfrome, dubbed ‘scromiting’ – screaming while being sick.
University Hospital Southampton, which has seen a rise in cases, warned: “Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is a rare condition caused by a regular (daily) and long-term use of marijuana. The syndrome is characterised by repeated and severe bouts of vomiting.
“The main ingredient in marijuana. THC, has anti-nausea (anti-sickness) effects. However, if you use it over a long period of time, marijuana seems to have the opposite effect on the digestive system and makes you more likely to feel and be sick.”
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