By Megan Sheets For Dailymail.com
Published: 15:31 EDT, 5 April 2018 | Updated: 15:39 EDT, 5 April 2018
14 more hospitalized bleeding from their eyes and ears after using fake weed in Illinois - pushing the total number of victims to 70
'It's really an emergency in terms of getting this information out to the public,' Dr Allison Arwady, chief medical officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health, told CNN.
Published: 15:31 EDT, 5 April 2018 | Updated: 15:39 EDT, 5 April 2018
14 more hospitalized bleeding from their eyes and ears after using fake weed in Illinois - pushing the total number of victims to 70
- The Illinois Department of Public Health has issued another warning about using synthetic marijuana, known as 'fake weed', 'K2' or 'spice'
- 70 users have visited the hospital with severe bleeding since March 7
- Nine of the people tested positive for rat poisoning
- Three men have been arrested for selling K2 laced with rat poison at a convenience store in Lawndale, Illinois
- Synthetic pot contains hundreds of man-made chemicals that act on the same cell receptors in the brain as THC does with marijuana
- Hundreds of people across the US have been hospitalized or killed as a result of synthetic pot in recent years
'It's really an emergency in terms of getting this information out to the public,' Dr Allison Arwady, chief medical officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health, told CNN.
This is the first time that severe bleeding has been associated with the drugs known as cannabinoids, a mix of hundreds of chemicals that act on the same brain cell receptors as the active ingredient in marijuana.
Along with bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, other symptoms have included coughing up blood, blood in the urine and bleeding gums.
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Several of the cases have been linked to brodifacoum, a toxic substance used in rat poison.
The poison affects levels of vitamin K in the blood which is necessary for coagulation.
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The IDPH has warned that anyone experiencing bleeding or bruising after using synthetic cannabis should seek treatment right away.
Pharmacists have been asked to warn people that over-the-counter vitamin K supplements are not strong enough to treat hypoprothrombinemia....