M25 Artificial Cannabis Caper Exposed.

M25 Artificial Cannabis Caper Exposed



Back in 2010 the newspapers were full of a new and unusual cannabis caper which was carrying on around stretch's of the M25 motorway north of London.



Police had been called by a farmer who was growing industrial hemp. According to the farmer cars were pulling up to his crops, the occupants would then jump out and cut down as much of the cultivated hemp plants as possible, and then make off before 'the rozzers' arrived.



The farmer claimed to have lost hundreds of kilo's of plant matter which was worthless unless you wanted to make hemp yarn, or hemp based cosmetics.



Local police were at a loss to why people would want to steal something which whilst it may look like cannabis, thats where the similarities end.



A police officer who was called to the scene explained "People think they can get high on hemp".



"It looks like cannabis, it even smells like cannabis, but without the psycho active THC crystals which gather on the female cannabis plant, (which the industrial hemp plant has none of), industrial hemp is absolutely useless as a recreational drug!?



So why would people go to such length's to steal it?



The answer was mentioned in the text above. Industrial hemp looks, smells and feels just like the humble cannabis plant. The only bit missing is the bit that gets you stoned.



Enter JWH-018



JW Huffman is an organic chemist from the United States. In the last decade or two scientists like he have been able to manufacture synthetic cannabinoids. That is, the bit of the cannabis plant which brings with it the high, as well as all the medical benefits.



Now THC as we know it consists of a soup consisting of over 400 different substances, and differs markedly from plant to plant let alone from species to species. So try as they may, the pharmaceutical industry has been unable to synthesize whole-plant THC. But they can recreate little bits of it. One of the most popular little bits is called JWH-018, (named after its creator Dr JW Huffman of Clemson University).



Jwh-018 was recently 'outed' as being the active component in Artificial cannabis products marketed under the brand names of Spice and K2, as well as a great many others.



These synthetic marijuana products are said to mimic the effects of cannabis whilst at the same time being upwards of 10x more potent than regular smoked cannabis.



A lab in Germany revealed JWH-018 was the secret ingredient in Spice type products and almost overnight a legend was born.



Clever boffin types were using solvent evaporation technique's to infuse their chosen vegetable matter with man made cannabinoid JWH-018, creating in the process a synthetic version of cannabis.



The problem was of course, finding something which would burn readily when dried whilst at the same time mimicking the taste and smell of cannabis.



Then, a gang of drug dealers happened upon a field of industrial hemp. A field full of 12 foot cannabis plants. Can you imagine?



It didn't take long to figure out how well the solvent extraction method would work on the dried hemp, and soon after wards North London and the rest of the UK was flooded with an artificial form of cannabis which was being grown for the gangsters by a local farmer, albeit unwittingly.



Any that was intercepted would be destroyed as being regular cannabis, and no one was any the wiser. Not the Police, nor the cannabis buying public. Until now!



Good home-grown cannabis should always come with a coating of crystals.



If the cannabis you are buying doesn't have a healthy coating of what looks like sugar then chances are you're smoking something which came not from a natural plant, but out of a Chinese or American laboratory.



You have been warned.



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