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Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio last week claimed that cannabis is tainted with the dangerous opioid fentanyl, repeating a myth that toxicology experts and state regulators have largely debunked.
Vance made the comments at a campaign appearance in Wisconsin on Friday as he spoke to the Milwaukee Police Association, claiming an officer told him that “we’ve got fentanyl in our marijuana bags that our teenagers are using.” Vance continued by saying that the Biden administration’s immigration policies have made it so children who experiment with cannabis are at risk of overdosing from the powerful painkiller.
“Look, I’m the parent of three young kids… A seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a two-year-old,” Vance said, according to a report from Marijuana Moment. “We don’t have to worry about this yet, but I’m certain—because kids are kids—that one day, one of my kids is going to take something or do something that I don’t want them to take. But I don’t want that mistake to ruin their life.”
Claims of marijuana laced with fentanyl have been made repeatedly over the last several years, often by representatives of law enforcement and government agencies. In 2021, the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH) announced that it had linked a rash of 39 overdoses in the state to cannabis laced with fentanyl. The agency noted that the patients had to be revived with naloxone and “denied any opioid use and claimed to have only smoked marijuana,” according to a report from CT Insider. The agency also said that a sample collected by police at the scene of an overdose in Plymouth had tested positive for fentanyl.
Debunking the Myth
Months later, Chris Boyle, a spokesperson for DPH, walked back the claim, saying that a full analysis of the incident revealed that at least 30 of the 39 overdoses were experienced by patients with a history of opioid use. He added that the sample of cannabis from Plymouth was the only sample that tested positive for fentanyl. Additionally, the state reviewed all cannabis samples sent to the state Division of Scientific Services Lab over a five-month period that included the overdose incidents and determined that none contained fentanyl.
“Based on the information gathered since the positive confirmation of marijuana with fentanyl, the CT ORS [Connecticut Overdose Response Strategy] assesses that the positive confirmation of marijuana with fentanyl was likely accidental contamination and an isolated incident,” Boyle wrote in an email to reporters at the time.
The contamination likely occurred when an illicit distributor “failed to clean their instruments before processing the marijuana and cross-contaminated it with fentanyl,” Boyle added.
Reports of cannabis laced with fentanyl have also been debunked by the New York State Office of Cannabis Management in a report released last year.
“Misinformation related to the danger of accidental overdose due to cannabis ‘contaminated’ with fentanyl remains widespread,” the office said. “Anecdotal reports of fentanyl ‘contaminated’ cannabis continue to be found to be false, as of the date of this publication” in October.
Paul Armentano, deputy director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said that similar claims of fentanyl-laced cannabis have often proven to be unfounded.
“Despite this claim receiving prominent headlines over the past several years, there exist few, if any, confirmed cases of these claims being substantiated,” said Armentano.
Ryan Marino, M.D., a toxicologist and addiction specialist, has made an unofficial second career out of exposing misinformation related to fentanyl. He notes that adding fentanyl to cannabis before it is smoked would not be an effective way to deliver the opioid.
“There has never been a confirmed case of fentanyl being ‘laced into weed,’ and it is both scientifically and economically preposterous in addition to being illogical,” Marino said on the social media platform X after a television personality repeated the erroneous claim last year. “Thanks to laws of chemistry and physics we can know better.”
Marino explained to NewsMax that fentanyl begins to degrade at a temperature much lower than the temperature of burning cannabis or a lighter.
While it is improbable that anyone is purposefully contaminating cannabis with fentanyl, Amentano of NORML notes that the possibility of such contamination is even less likely when cannabis is legalized and regulated. In states with legal cannabis, products must be tested for safety before they make it to store shelves.
“Such licensing and regulations largely eliminate bad actors and poor manufacturing practices from the equation — ensuring that consumers have access to products of known purity and potency,” Armentano said.
The information in this article and any included images or charts are for educational purposes only. This information is neither a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional legal advice or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about laws, regulations, or your health, you should always consult with an attorney, physician or other licensed professional.
