New Study Reveals Majority of Street Cannabis in Madrid Contains Fecal Matter

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he majority of cannabis sold on the streets of Madrid, Spain contains dangerous amounts of fecal matter and isn’t safe for human consumption, according to a new study. The study found the average amount of fecal bacteria found in each gram of resin is 500 times higher than the maximum legal limit set by the U.S. legislation for cannabis or by the European regulation for fruit and tea.

The authors believe the cannabis is likely contaminated due to the way it was brought in to the country. Lead author of the study, José Manuel Moreno Pérez, said the acorn-shaped cannabis that is sold on the streets of Madrid is usually smuggled in by ingesting the cannabis and then expelled into a toilet by using laxatives. Perez said about 40 percent of the samples had an aroma of fecal matter.

Researchers collected 90 samples of cannabis resin directly from drug dealers in the city and found 93 percent of the acorn-shaped samples contained traces of the E.coli bacteria, and 10 percent of the samples were contaminated with the Aspergillus fungus, which can cause serious health problems for those with weakened immune systems, like cancer patients who use cannabis to counteract the effects of chemotherapy. In total, 88.3 percent of the samples tested were found to be not suitable for human consumption.

“These patients have a weakened immune system, so an infection caused by the consumption of contaminated or adulterated hashish could be fatal,” Perez said. The study looked at two forms of cannabis resin, sold in “ingots” (blocks) and “acorns.” Researchers found a link between the types of cannabis being sold and the contamination levels.

“Foreign elements were found in 64.7 percent of the ingot-shaped samples and in 30.2 percent of the acorn-shaped samples,” researchers said. “With regard to microbiological contamination, 93 percent of acorns were contaminated by E. coli, compared to 29.4 percent of ingots. In addition, all samples with fecal odor were acorns and were contaminated by E. coli.”