Jay Jenkins said he hesitated when a buddy suggested they vape CBD.
“It’ll relax you,” the friend assured.
The vapor Jenkins inhaled didn’t relax him. He ended up in a coma.
What he vaped didn’t have any CBD, the popular compound extracted from the cannabis plant that marketers say can treat a range of ailments without getting users high. Instead, the oil was spiked with a powerful street drug.
Some operators cash in on the CBD craze by substituting cheap and illegal synthetic marijuana for natural CBD in vapes and edibles such as gummy bears, an Associated Press investigation found.
The practice has sent dozens of people such as Jenkins to emergency rooms over the past two years. People behind spiked products have operated with impunity, in part because the business has boomed so fast that regulators haven’t caught up while drug enforcement agents have higher priorities.
