One dead and 38 in hospital as synthetic marijuana laced with rat poison leads to users bleeding from their mouths and eyes
Those who have been hospitalised obtained the products in convenience stores, from dealers and friends
At least one person has died and 38 people have been taken to hospital in Illinois after a form of synthetic marijuana led to users bleeding from the mouths, eyes and elsewhere, state officials said.
“Most of what we are seeing is spontaneous bleeding of the gums or nose, in the stool and urine,” said Dr Patrick Lank, a medical toxicologist who works at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
That, experts said, may be because the drug contains rat poison – this despite some users buying it in convenience stores.
The death comes as Illinois continues to see an increase in the number of people reporting severe bleeding after using a synthetic cannabinoid product.
Synthetic cannabinoid, often called Spice or K2, is a man-made mixture of hundreds of chemicals that affect the same brain cell receptors as the main ingredient in marijuana.