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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK Skunk contaminated with glass
Hackney Gazette
Monday 29 Jan 2007 A potent form of cannabis known as skunk has been contaminated with tiny particles of glass, Hackney health chiefs have warned. Batches of dodgy cannabis are believed to have been cut with tiny glass beads which could pose a risk to health. Drug charities believe dealers spray the plants with the reflective element from the paint used on road lines. The tiny glass beads become embedded in the leaves and bump up the weight of the product. Health chiefs admit the exact nature of the threat to people's health from the contaminated drug is unknown. People who have used the contaminated drug have complained of a sore mouth, persistent chesty coughs and tight chest. A spokesman for City & Hackney Primary Care Trust (PCT) warned that using any form of cannabis is harmful to health and said the risk of the drug being laced with microscopic pieces of glass would make it more dangerous. "While the exact potential health harm from this contamination is not yet fully determined, inhaling hot glass into the mouth, throat, or into the lungs should clearly be avoided," he said. The PCT said it was not aware that other forms of cannabis such as the solid "resin" form had been contaminated. The Rev George Hargreaves, who has campaigned fiercely against relaxing the laws governing cannabis, said: "My first reaction is the wickedness of the people who would do that." He added that the government wrongly had taken a relaxed view of a drug that "causes schizophrenia and has a huge social cost attached to it". The cannabis alert comes almost a month after a contaminated batch of heroin killed eight people in London, including three in Hackney. Karl Hodgkinson, 28, and David Collins, 27, were found dead in a flat in Arcola Street, Dalston. Sharnjit Dhillon, 26, was taken ill at her home in Whiston Road, Haggerston, and died in hospital. Any drug users who are experiencing ill health after taking cannabis should contact their doctor, or visit their nearest walk-in centre. http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/
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