CDC has published a Health Alert Network advisory on vitamin K-dependent antagonist coagulopathy caused by synthetic cannabinoids apparently contaminated with the rodenticide brodifacoum. While CDC does not report any cases from the West Coast, they advise proceduralists who deal with blood, and others, to be aware of the possibility. The HAN includes:
- Recommendations for clinicians, including notifying health authorities, especially in cases where a synthetic cannabinoid user has recently donated blood
- Recommendations for public health officials, including notifying CDC
- Recommendations for the general public, including avoiding synthetic cannabinoids
For details see https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00410.asp.
There is no suggestion that natural, non-synthetic cannabinoids are similarly contaminated; these are regulated and legal by state law in all of Networks 16 and 18 except Idaho, and increasingly used for medical purposes. There is also no suggestion that natural, non-synthetic, non-psychoactive CBD oil made from industrial hemp, which is available throughout the US, is similarly contaminated; however, outside of the regulated marketplace, industrial-hemp CBD oil is unregulated, so the potential for contamination of some kind is always present.
