UnSplash / Avery Meeker
To date, fentanyl traces have only been found in one cannabis sample in the U.S., according to a Leafly analysis.
Last week, the Senate GOP Doctors Caucus released a video warning of the very real dangers of the powerful synthetic opiate. In it, the caucus' membership — which includes Kansas' Roger Marshall, Kentucky's Rand Paul and Louisiana's Bill Cassidy, among other medical professionals in the Senate — warns that the drug kills 200 people daily in the U.S.
Sounds reasonable so far. Fentanyl is bad news.
However, the clip lumps cannabis into the list of drugs regularly laced with the substance, as first reported by Bezinga. The problem there, the financial media company points out, is that recent research suggests that's simply not the case.
Cannabis website Leafly last month published the results of a six-month investigation into reports of fentanyl-laced weed — and declared them a myth.
State lab tests have repeatedly disproven police claims of marijuana being contaminated with the opiate, according to the site. Fentanyl traces have only been found in one cannabis sample in the U.S., the story also notes.
"The lie spreads from three sources: Faulty field drug testing kits, police departments incentivized to hype local fear, and reporters who fail to question, investigate, or follow up on police claims," Leafly Editor Calvin Stovall wrote.
Separately, the medical site WebMD recently posted a piece debunking the myths that weed is regularly laced with fentanyl and that the contaminated pot has caused fatalities.
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