Quote:

Puffer
LOL a mates 12 year old child just called Frank and asked if they knew what the glass bits were in the skunk he just bought. Frank says "No idea, you sure this isn't a hoax call?"
Fucking idiots!

That is just shockingly bad. Almost criminally negligent, in fact.

Why are they not communicating with each other? They have had planty of emails about this...

Brix is an additive which helps removes the green shit from the end result when drying off the raw weed. It also adds weight by increasing the sugar content of flowers. Andover Hydroponics [www.andoverhydroponics.co.uk] published detailed information about most growing products and their uses.
The reason why kn person can positivly identify the gritty substance found in the weed being sold by dealers, is because it is different from supplier to suplier.
In the same way that soap dish is contaminated, so now is the weed. It is sad and unfortunate this is happeneing but I am afraid greed is the culprit. Some grains being added are silicates and others are sand.
The only reason it has been added is to make the grass heavier and worth more.
Any addiitive of this nature is dangerous and it is being caused because the government are attempting to kill drugs use in this country.
The amount of busts being made are having an impact on profits from growers abraod. We all know the growers abroad make donations to terrorists, what are governement need to realise is that a small amount being grown by the hobby grower at home in the UK is actualy helping in more ways than 1.
I hope this helps. Here is some additional advice if you have been unfortunate enough to buy contaminated weed then it is probably safer to smoke it through a water pipe or water bong.
Hope this helps you all from becoming ill.Compliments of Andover Hydroponics

IS A WATER PIPE OR BONG AS EFFECTIVE A FILTER TIPS?

CAN THESE MICRO BALLS PASS THROUGH THE FILTER TIPS?

i know the propellant used is still an issue but from the data collected so far the silica beads are the biggest addressable problem. if these silica balls enter the lungs they WILL lead to silicosis and very possibly death in about 10 to 15 years. THIS IS NO JOKE! for heavy users this process can be as little as 2 to 5 years. im not talking about exposure for these periods but rather it takes these specified periods for the symptoms to develop. SILICOSIS HAS NO KNOWN CURE!

I am contacting filter manufacturers specificaly with regards to this issue and hope to have some information soon. why us ask? cos i have always used a filter and want to know for certain if i have avoided the death skunks proven/known effect.

Obviously, if in doubt dont smoke or buy!

ONCE AGAIN NO 1 CARES WHERE U LIVE AND THAT U HAVE HAD SOME. PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THE HEALTH CONSEQUNCES AT THIS STAGE SO THEY CAN PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE.

ps. i am not surprised with ask Franks response but cant beleive the goverment has turned a bling eye to what will eventually cost the health service much money in the future.

DONT BUY THE STUFF... U WONT BE GIGGLING FOR LONG.

PASS THE WORD AND TELL THOSE U LOVE SO THEY DONT HAVE THE SAME MISFORTUNE MANY OF US MAY HAVE.

hi, Ive been smoking weed pure thru a bong now for about 7 years now. i split my time between essex and buckinghamshire and am happy to say that the message seems to be gettin thru in both these areas and havent seen even the tinyest hint of glass weed for at least 3weeks now so hopefully (fingers crossed) this is a sign of things to come.
however i still want to advise ppl to smoke any shit weed they come across thru a bong. ive had huge amounts of sandy sludgy shit gathering in my bong water meaning that it is being filtered out however after talking to mates who do still smoke joints we've found that hardly any of the sand/glass/grit/shit appears in the ash left over, surely this means that it is being inhaled?

Is it possible to post pictures here? I'd like to show off myhome made water bongs which usee these little round screens. Keeps nearly all the crap out.

A wonderful childhood - Just me my Mother and the voices

Guardian: Warning issued over cannabis adulterated with glass beads

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Guardian (London)

January 12, 2007 Friday

Warning issued over cannabis adulterated with glass beads

BYLINE: James Randerson Science correspondent

SECTION: GUARDIAN HOME PAGES; Pg. 10



Drug campaigners have warned that a batch of cannabis adulterated with tiny glass beads which they say could pose a risk to health has flooded the UK market. Anecdotal reports suggest it is being sold in al-most every part of the country.

The charity Drugscope is issuing a warning. "We want to make people aware of it from a public health point of view. If you are smoking this stuff and taking it into your lungs it's not good news."

The fact that "grit weed", as it is being called, is so widespread suggests that con tamination is happen-ing at an early stage in the production process. "It seems to be being done on an industrial scale," said Harry Shapiro of Drugscope.

The dealers' motivation seems to be to bump up the weight of their product. They appear to be doing this by spraying plants with the reflective element from the paint used on road lines. The tiny reflective glass beads become imbedded in the leaves.

"It looks perfectly normal. In fact it looks good quality," said Derek Williams of UK Cannabis Internet Ac-tivists, which campaigns against cannabis prohibition.
Contributors to its internet forum have said the contaminated leaves can be iden tified by rubbing them between wetted fingers. The residue will feel gritty if chewed.

The first reports of grit weed circulated in late summer, but the groups have only recently received pic-tures of the beads taken with an electron microscope by an anonymous scientist. There have been ru mours of users experiencing a tight chest for days after smoking grit weed, but a spokesperson for the British Tho-racic Society said that the contamination was unlikely to be dangerous because the particles are too big to be inhaled into the lungs.

An analysis carried out by the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction found that the glass par-ticles are between 0.02 and 0.3 millimetres across. But Richard Russell, a consultant at Imperial College London, said few particles above 0.015 millimetres would be able to pass into the lungs because they are too big.

"It is likely that they will deposit in the mouth or the throat," said Dr Russell. Here they would most likely pass harmlessly through the system. Using a filter would stop them entering the mouth.

Dr Russell said that smokers should be aware that cannabis smoke causes emphysema, lung inflamma-tion and cancer. "You are likely to do more damage from the marijuana than these particles."

Mr Williams said that the widespread contamination highlighted the problems which stem from cannabis prohibition. "Cannabis is called a controlled drug, but there is no control over the supply side. It's a com-pletely underground product," he said

NICE ONE!

yeh amazing how the cannabis itself is meant to be the thing we are worried about!!


and i thought i had read somewhere that they had proved that cannabis DOES NOT cause cancer, in fact cannabis smokers are less likely to get cancer as appose to people who just smoke cigarettes! OR DID I DREAM THAT......

no i didnt dream it...

[news.bbc.co.uk]

[news.bbc.co.uk]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2007 04:28PM by miss_stoner.

Quote:

Puffer
Is it possible to post pictures here? I'd like to show off myhome made water bongs which usee these little round screens. Keeps nearly all the crap out.

You can post pictures that are online somewhere - ie on a website, not on your own computer.

find out the URL of the picture (right click) and then paste that into your message and surround it with image tage - use the squat brackets and to this:

{img}[www.ukcia.org]{/img}

if you use square brackets it works



Start a new thread for this though

Derek

Webteam UKCIA

how can u tell the difference between glass-beads, and actual skunk crystals?

Are there batches that have more sand than others?

Are all different strains of skunks getting contaminated, or is it just one type?

Many thanks in advance.

The "skunk crystals" (Trichomes) look like little mushrooms under a X9 watch glass which costs around £5

thanks, do u have a picture?

hello all!
new to this site, and what a refreshing sight to see many of my ganja brothers all here keeping it real!
well this sand weed stuff i first encoutered in the summer, its unmistakable when you smoke it and find a gob full of grit!
However i have just recently come across another load of shit!, which is very light green and almost damp to the touch, it doen;t smoke at all!
i've had more of a hit smoking B&H.
I told a friend about it and he tells me that some dealers if they have a large amount will freeze the weed to disguise the potent smell for storage purposes!
has any one heard of this crazyness before!
And all you guys and gals out there getting ripped off in camden with shite deals and sand weed, just go without until you get nice bud, its not that bad, sure you get a very bad nights sleep, and cluck a bit, but its not crack or brown. i gave up for 4 months just cause i was bored, plus i met my fiance and really needed to be with it cause my emotions were running high, and yes the first week was difficult, but we all can do it.
plus can you imagin how hammered you get after a weeks break when you roll a nice big one, its worth the weeks break just to look forward to that. but don't get me wrong i smoke every day if i can and have done for 15 years me now 30yo

p.s does any one know any good xxxxx aroound at the mo, is london totally dry???????????????

Looks as though the weed is drying up again - does that mean the importers have decided to stop buying the sand/grit shit - or do we in the UK, smoke so much that the growers can’t keep up?

Either way - its been very hard to get hold of weed in the Dorset area for the last 10 days..

Id like to see the weed situation get back to what it was a year ago - this time last year we had some of the best import around with no artificial crap sprayed on.

But as previous posters have mentioned, Its not just us getting this crap weed, Its in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain,... its all over Europe and unless the crew doing this get busted... Its always going to be around - and flooding the market.

Quote:

brain-damage
thanks, do u have a picture?

Here yer go.. Many plants have Trichomes.

[content.answers.com]

This one shows Cannabis Trichomes and seems to be the reason for chucking glass in, i.e. to make it look like the leaf has more:-

[www.drugs-forum.com]

Hi All,

I found out on Wednesday that Skunk I've been smoking for months has been contaminated, and confirmed it with my own immediately with a microscope. I quickly found this thread and it has been a real ride of highs and lows reading through this thread.

However, my relief in the end with the Gaurdian article is like the concluding to a gripping thriller now I feel a little safer! (Jan 13th - thanks Miss Stoner!) At least we can feel a little more comforted that we won't all drop dead from Silicosis in a few years - tick tock!! argghhh!

One thing has changed though, I've now got some top Skunk, but I'm smoking using a filter. I've tried these before and abandoned them. But this time, I'mn still getting properly stoned, the smoke is smoother and it helps roll the perfect joints! And I may be imagining, but I don't seem to have a heavy head in the morning!

The least we can learn from this is to start being very careful with everything we buy and start using filters if you smoke spliffs. I analysed this stuff to hell and back with my microscope and did as many test as I could before smoking it.

I have noticed that the glass beads I've got from a contaminated sample really do look very similar to the 'heads' of the THC mushrooms that can fall off when grinding. However, the THC heads melt quickly under a flame and the skunk has a good smell. You can smear THC with your finger and it is sticky, but this doesn't mean your smoking glue - which I was worried about.

Be carefull people, and well done UKCIA for hosting such a great site, I've learnt so much from all the people here - especially those who have spent so much time researching and performing some analysis on the stuff.

I've only just realised this shit is dodgy. I have received quite a lot of this stuff lately and I'm getting very worried about it as I've realised that I must have been smokin this stuff for quite a while. I also thought it was fairly decent stuff.

If you rub the bud then rub your teeth and bite you can feel the stuff crunching. I think they do this to nmake the bud look alot better than it should be.

I have wanted to stop smoking this stuff for a while now and now I know why, it's fuckin shit!!

I think this is a large scale operation from gangs that were looking to take over the trade quickly and efficiently whilst making the maximum profit. I also think that they don't come from a background of smoking and that they are not British.

I would urge the government, newpapers, internet and tv news stations to act big on this before we have some sort of national disaster! I have had bad lungs for a while now and also found it relatively hard to breathe at times, I just hope this stuff hasn't cased me any damage.

I love the green but nothing's worth this amount of risk. A lot more people should grow and the government should let them do it. Perhaps the government could think of some useful tax to add on to it. I think they'll be a sudden surge of people buying grow kits when this gets well known about.

I hope it doesn't mean the end for cannibis culture as we know it!!!! Fight back my fellow stoners.

Just to make something clear, despite what that doctor blok said inthe Guardian report, we do not konw that this glas contamination is safe

There are simply too many unknowns about this whole stuation to assume anything other than its very dangerous and the advice still has to be don't smoke it.

I suspect the government will use frank to highlight the fact that illegal drugs can be contaminated without ponting out they are causing the problem

It's unliely to be the only contmination issue either. Wwe realy must make a huge stink about this and ensure the blame goes to where it belongs.Prohibition kills, and this is how it does it

Derek

Webteam UKCIA

Quote:

Derek
Just to make something clear, despite what that doctor blok said inthe Guardian report, we do not konw that this glas contamination is safe

True, he just hasn't looked at the bigger picture.

A few people now have made the point that, while maybe the whole particles will not make it into the lungs, but what about once they have been through a grinder? That will surely make them small enough to be inhaled.

this is disgusting!

i know of a dealer who was shot at for selling a ounce of this shite to the wrong person! apparently they got home opened the bag realized it was gritty weed so they strapped up and shot at him :) just what he deserves if u ask me!
its actually stopped me smoking so much which is a good thing ( i think ) and i wont buy any weed off anyone i dont know well enough to test it first.
from my own experiences ive only been foolish enough to buy one 1/8 of this crap and it gave me a sore throat, chapped lips and a head ache in all honesty.
this is in birmingham so for all who know birmingham will know this will and has sparked violence.

gosh, this seemed to start from the drout we had last year.

the dealers are going down,

grow your own 100%

dont be a fool.

also this reminds me of the old days when dealers used to put brick dust in hezza ( not that ive ever had it ) but its the same principal, if people will spend money on ity and they need it people will always be there to capitalize on it.

to all the dealers out there get ready because u might sell some of this shit to wrong person one day and get capped in your ass.