Several new cases of severe bleeding caused by tainted synthetic marijuana have been reported in Illinois, most of them in Winnebago County, health officials announced Monday.
Officials in Winnebago County, in the Rockford area, confirmed there were fewer than five new suspected cases over the past two weeks, some requiring hospitalization. The causes of the illnesses are being investigated but are believed to have been the result of poisoning from synthetic marijuana.
“We don’t know if this is a new batch of drugs or product that has been held back from when we began seeing cases at the end of March, but it reiterates the importance of staying away from synthetic cannabinoids,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah said in a news release.
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In May, Illinois health officials reported that 164 people had being sickened over the previous two months by tainted synthetic marijuana, and four people died. The vast majority of cases were in Tazewell, Peoria, and Cook counties.
As the outbreak slowed recently, officials stopped counting the number of new cases, but reported the latest cases because it was an unusual outbreak of unknown cause, spokesman Melaney Arnold said.
“It’s now a matter of those individuals seeking help for substance use disorder so they do not use synthetic cannabinoids,” she said.
Synthetic cannabinoids are not marijuana, but are manmade drugs marketed as mimicking the effect of cannabis. They are sold both on the street and in places like gas stations and convenience stores in small packets under the brand name Blue Giant, K2, Spice, and other labels. This spring, some “fake weed” users began coughing up blood, having severe bloody noses or having blood in their urine.
Lab tests revealed that the drug had been contaminated with brodifacoum, a blood thinner used in rat poison.
An additional seven cases have been reported recently in Wisconsin, in Dane, Milwaukee and Outagamie counties, while another eight cases are suspected to be linked to the drug but not yet confirmed, officials said.
The treatment involves high doses of vitamin K, first intravenously, then up to 30 tablets a day for up to six months.
State law outlaws certain synthetic cannabinoids, but drug makers have repeatedly changed the ingredients slightly to get around the prohibition. Lawmakers passed a measure to ban all forms of synthetic cannabinoids, and the measure is awaiting a decision by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
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