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Tag: warning

  • Watch Out For Drugs Disguised As Halloween Candy, DEA Warns

    Watch Out For Drugs Disguised As Halloween Candy, DEA Warns

    According to the agency, methamphetamine and marijuana are the drugs most commonly disguised in edible form.

    It may sound like a storyline out of a low-budget comedy, but last year the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) found drugs disguised as off-brand Halloween candies including Munchy Way, 3 Rastateers, Twixed, Keef Kat and Rasta Reese’s.

    This year, the agency is telling parents to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

    “These treats can look like traditional candies, but can have harmful effects if consumed by a child,” the DEA said in a news release. “The DEA and law enforcement agencies throughout the country have seen an increase of seizures of drug-laced edibles, including but not limited to chocolates, suckers and gummies.”

    According to the agency, methamphetamine and marijuana are the drugs most commonly disguised in edible form. Marijuana is often infused into brownies, candy bars and gummies, while meth is more likely to be mixed into hard candies and gummies, the agency said.  

    “The effects caused by those ingredients are now in the food,” the agency said. 

    While it might seem easy to spot, the agency cautioned that the drug-laced candies can be easy to overlook at first glance. 

    “Such items are often professionally packaged and can easily be mistaken for regular candy or baked goods,” the agency said. However, there are some signs to be on the lookout for, including unusual wrapping, appearance, or colors; an odd smell; misspelled candy labels; and candy or food that is unwrapped or unmarked.

    People who suspect that they have drug-laced candies should contact their local police departments and seek immediate medical attention if a child has ingested the candy. 

    Although the idea of drugs in Halloween candy might seem far-fetched, one Ohio police department had to issue a warning to residents this week after a 5-year-old boy tested positive for meth after trick-or-treating. 

    “Please check your children’s candy that was received today while trick or treating. Also, please check any non-candy items such as rings, bracelets, necklaces or fake teeth. If you suspect that anything has been tampered with, please contact our department by phone so that an officer can stop and collect the items,” the Galion Police Department wrote on Facebook. 

    The boy, Braylen Carwell, began experiencing odd symptoms after collecting candy. 

    “The left side of his face was just droopy and then he fell and then he couldn’t move his left arm. And he didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know what he was doing,” Braylen’s mother, Julia Pence, told ABC 6. 

    Braylen is expected to be fine, and the police department said that they had no other reports of incidents involving tainted candy. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • E-Cig Maker Called Out For Putting Erectile Dysfunction Meds In Vape Juice

    E-Cig Maker Called Out For Putting Erectile Dysfunction Meds In Vape Juice

    The FDA issued a warning to one e-cig maker that reportedly violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

    The FDA is casting a closer eye on HelloCig Electronic Technology, an e-cigarette manufacturer, after FDA researchers discovered that not only were the fruit-flavored products found to impair lung function in trials on mice, but the liquids contained prescription erectile dysfunction drugs as well.

    While e-cigarettes, vapes, and their ilk have been touted as a healthier alternatives to smoking for years, the truth is that the products were simply too new to allow any deep understanding about the possible adverse risks they carry as well as what product regulations should be put in place to protect consumers.

    This lack of regulation may have contributed to HelloCig’s inclusion of tadafil and sildenafil, usually used as the active ingredient to treat erectile dysfunction, in their e-cigarette liquids.

    “There are no e-liquids that contain prescription drugs that have been proven safe or effective through this route of administration,” said Scott Gottleib, FDA Commissioner.

    The FDA also undertook a surprise inspection of popular San Francisco e-cig manufacturer Juul, snatching up their marketing documents to ensure the company is not marketing to minors. Juul has been a runaway success, seeing a massive increase in sales from 2.2 million devices in 2016 to 16.2 million devices in 2017.

    Considering that 2 million high schoolers reported using e-cigarettes in a National Youth Tobacco Survey study, a significant portion of these sales made their way to the hands of minors.

    That’s why last September, the FDA warned and fined any e-cig manufacturers found to have sold products to minors and gave them 60 days to prove they had mechanisms in place to prevent minors from purchasing their products.

    The fruity flavors that are most attractive to teens have been linked to impaired lung function in mice. While this does not necessarily mean that the same effects will be seen in humans, it’s an important first step to determining the risks the products present.

    “Our findings suggest that exposure to e-cig vapor can trigger inflammatory responses and adversely affect respiratory system mechanics,” wrote the study’s authors. “We conclude that both e-cig vaping and conventional cigarette smoking negatively impact lung biology.”

    Groups of mice were exposed to cigarette smoke as well as different formulations of e-cigarette vapor. After three days, all the mice were found to have problems with inflammation, mucous production, and lung function.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA Warns Of Synthetic Marijuana Laced With Rat Poison

    FDA Warns Of Synthetic Marijuana Laced With Rat Poison

    The warning comes amid a wave of synthetic marijuana overdoses. 

    The FDA warned this week about the ongoing danger of synthetic cannabis laced with rat poison, floating concerns that the tainted drug could pose a threat to the nation’s blood supply. 

    Poisoned supplies of the drug have already accounted for several deaths and sent hundreds of users to the hospital this year with severe bleeding or seizures, officials said. 

    Concern about contaminated drug stashes comes amid an ongoing effort to stamp out the use of the cannabis copycat often sold illegally in convenient stores and corner markets. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised a red flag about the risks of rat poison-laced supplies earlier this year. 

    “Despite our efforts, certain entities continue to bypass state and federal drug laws by making and distributing these products – often marked or labeled as ‘not for human consumption’ – and changing the structure of the synthetic chemicals to try to skirt legal requirements,” the FDA wrote in its release. 

    But the real danger in recent months, the agency said, is that K2 makers have begun adding in brodifacoum – an anticoagulant used in rat poison – in an effort to prolong the high. 

    Adding that chemical can pose other health risks, including severe bleeding. Hundreds of users across 10 Midwestern states have been hospitalized in recent months as a result of complications stemming from the presence of brodifacoum, the agency said. 

    “Today, we’re joining together to send a strong warning to anyone who may use synthetic marijuana products that these products can be especially dangerous as a result of the seemingly deliberate use of brodifacoum in these illegal products,” the agency wrote in a release Thursday. 

    Aside from the risk to users, the agency also highlighted the threat to the blood supply. 

    “The FDA has received several reports of donors who used synthetic cannabinoids contaminated with brodifacoum. Because of its long half-life, the bleeding risk from brodifacoum, which prevents vitamin K from being reused within the body, can persist for weeks,” the agency wrote.

    “Given the known and unknown risks associated with these synthetic cannabinoid products, the FDA urges individuals to avoid using them, especially since there’s no way of telling which synthetic marijuana products have been contaminated with the powerful anticoagulant brodifacoum.” 

    The agency vowed to continue monitoring the situation, along with the CDC and DEA.

    View the original article at thefix.com