CBD tubes enriched with dangerous drugs are sold in Utah and the United States.

Jay Jenkins says that he hesitated when a friend suggested he vaper the CBD.

"It'll relax you," assured the friend.

The steam that Jenkins inhaled did not relax him. After two puffs, he was in a coma.

Indeed, what he was vaping did not have CBD, the suddenly popular compound extracted from the cannabis plant that, according to marketers, can treat a range of health problems without attracting much d & # 39; users. Instead, the oil was spiked with a powerful street drug.

Some operators are taking advantage of the craze for CBD by substituting cheap and illegal synthetic marijuana with natural CBD in vows and edible products such as gelatin cubs, revealed an Associated agency survey. Press.

The practice has sent dozens of people like Jenkins to emergency rooms over the past two years. Yet doped product managers operate with impunity, in part because their activity has grown so rapidly that regulators have not yet caught up with it, while anti-drug agents have a higher priority. high.

Jenkins used laboratory tests to test vape oil, as well as 29 other vape products sold in CBD form in the country, focusing on brands that authorities or users have identified as suspicious. Ten of the 30 types of synthetic marijuana contained – drugs commonly referred to as K2 or spices that have no known medical benefit – while others did not exhibit any CBD-containing substances.

Among them, Green Machine, a capsule compatible with Juul electronic cigarettes that reporters bought in California, Florida and Maryland. Four of these seven pods contained illegal synthetic marijuana, but the chemicals varied depending on the flavor and even the place of purchase.

"It's Russian roulette," said James Neal-Kababick, director of Flora Research Laboratories, which tested the products.

The vape in general has been under increased scrutiny in recent weeks as hundreds of users have developed a mysterious lung disease and many have died. The AP investigation is focused on another set of cases, in which psychoactive chemicals are added to the products presented under the name CBD.

The results of AP laboratory tests echo what the authorities have discovered, according to a survey conducted by law enforcement agencies in the 50 states. At least 128 samples out of more than 350 tested by government laboratories in nine states, almost all in the South, contained synthetic marijuana in products marketed under the name CBD. Gummy bears and other edible products were at the origin of 36 successes, while almost all others were vape products. The Mississippi authorities also discovered fentanyl, the potent opioid involved in about 30,000 overdose deaths last year.

The reporters then purchased brands that the law enforcement and / or online discussions had identified as having been enriched. The tests carried out by the authorities and AP focused on suspicious products, the results are not representative of the entire market, which includes hundreds of products.

"People have started to see the market grow and some foolish businesses are trying to make money quickly," said Marielle Weintraub, president of the US Hemp Authority, an industry group that certifies cosmetics and dietary supplements. CBD.

Synthetic marijuana is a concern, according to Weintraub, but she said the industry had many reputable companies. When products come up, people or companies that compose them often blame counterfeiting or contamination in the supply and distribution chain.

CBD, an abbreviation for cannabidiol, is one of many chemicals found in cannabis, a plant commonly known as marijuana. Most CBD is made from hemp, a variety of cannabis grown for fiber or other uses. Unlike its most famous cousin, THC, cannabidiol does not have a large number of users. CBD sales were partly motivated by unproven claims that it can reduce pain, calm anxiety, increase concentration and even prevent disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a CBD-based drug for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and serious forms of epilepsy, but states that it can not be added to foods , drinks or dietary supplements. The agency is currently clarifying its regulations, but aside from manufacturers' warnings against unproven health claims, it has scarcely prevented the sale of doped products. This is the work of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, but its agents are focused on opioids and other narcotics.

There are now sweets and drinks made from CBD, lotions and creams, and even pet treats. Suburban yoga studios, large pharmacies and Neiman Marcus department stores offer beauty products. Kim Kardashian West took a baby shower on the theme of the CBD.

But it is difficult for consumers to know how much CBD they actually receive, if at all. As with many products, federal and state regulators rarely test what's inside – most of the time, quality control is left to the manufacturers.

And there is a financial incentive to cut corners. A website advertises synthetic marijuana for only $ 25 per pound – the same amount of natural CBD costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Jay Jenkins had just finished his freshman year at Citadel, a military university in South Carolina, when boredom led him to try what he thought was CBD.

It was in May 2018 and he was saying that his friend had bought a cartridge of blueberry-flavored CBD vape oil, called Yolo! – the acronym for "you only live once" – from the 7th to the 11th, an austere and white building in Lexington, South Carolina.

Back in the car, Jenkins first tried it. Things "have become blurry", and then terrifying.

Jenkins said that the nerves in his mouth seemed to be "multiplied by 10." Bright images of a circle engulfed by darkness and filled with colored triangles filled his mind. Before he lost consciousness, he realized that he could not move.

"I thought I was already dead," Jenkins said.

His friend ran to the hospital where Jenkins had acute respiratory failure and went into a coma, according to his medical records.

Jenkins came out of a coma and was released the next day. Hospital staff sealed the Yolo cartridge in a biohazard bag and returned it.

Laboratory tests ordered by this summer revealed a type of synthetic marijuana that was alleged to have at least 11 deaths in Europe.

State and federal authorities never identified the authors of Yolo, which made sick not only Jenkins, but at least 33 people in Utah.

According to documents filed in a California court by a former accountant of the company, a company called Mathco Health Corporation would have sold the Yolo products to a distributor with the same address as the market 7-11 on which Jenkins had stopped. Two other former employees told AP that Yolo was a Mathco product.

Mathco CEO Katarina Maloney said in an interview at the company's headquarters in Carlsbad, California, that Yolo was being treated by her former business partner and that she did not want to discuss it.

Maloney also stated that Mathco did not "participate in the manufacture, distribution or sale of illegal products". She added that Yolo products in Utah "were not purchased from us" and that the company could not control the fate of the products once they were shipped. . The tests ordered by AP on two vape CBD cartridges marketed under the Honey Hookahzz brand of Maloney revealed no synthetic marijuana.

In the context of an employment complaint filed in court records, the former accountant said that Maloney's former trading partner, Janell Thompson, was the "exclusive seller" from Yolo. Called by phone and questioned about Yolo, Thompson hung up.

"If you want to talk to someone, you can talk to my lawyer," then texted Thompson without providing a name or contact information.

When a reporter went to market 7 to 11 in May, Yolo was no longer for sale. When asked something similar, the clerk suggested a cartridge bearing the Funky Monkey label, then headed to a cabinet located behind the counter and offered two vials without a label.

"They are better, they are the owners, this is our best seller," she said, calling them 7 to 11 CBDs. "These here, you can only get here."

The tests showed that all three contained synthetic marijuana. The store owner did not respond to messages requesting a comment.

The people behind the spiked vapes leave little clue as to who makes them or what they contain.

Packaging does not identify companies and their brands have a weak online presence. Newcomers can simply design a label and entrust their production to a wholesale wholesaler.

The opaque manufacturing and distribution system hampers criminal investigations and leaves little recourse to victims of doped products.

The AP has purchased and tested Green Machine capsules in flavors including mint, mango, blueberry and jungle juice. Four of the seven pods were enriched and only two had a CBD level above one trace level.

The mint and mango capsules purchased in downtown Los Angeles contained a type of synthetic marijuana. But while the mint and mango pods sold by a vape shop in Maryland were not fortified, a jungle-flavored pod was. It still contained a different synthetic marijuana compound – one health authority blamed poisoning on people in the United States and New Zealand. A blueberry pod sold in Florida has also been enriched.

The packaging of Green Machine indicates that it is made with industrial hemp, but nothing helps to know who is behind.

Journalist Keith Manley, co-owner of the store, went to CBD Supply in a suburb of Baltimore to discuss the test results. He was aware of the online discussions that Green Machine could be boosted. He then asked an employee to remove all remaining Green Machine modules from store shelves.

Through interviews and documents, AP traced the Green Machine modules that the reporters bought at a warehouse in Philadelphia, then at a tobacco shop in Manhattan, and the contractor behind the counter, Rajinder Singh, who declared to be the first distributor of Green Machine.

Singh, who is currently on probation for a federal conviction for synthetic marijuana, said he had bought pots of Green Machine with money or in exchange for goods such as hookah pipes to a man that he knew by the name of "Bob" and who had driven a van in Massachusetts. To justify his story, he provided a phone number associated with a man who died in July.

Singh pleaded guilty in 2017 to federal charges for selling a "potpourri" to smoke that he knew contained synthetic marijuana. He stated that this experience had taught him a lesson and that he had blamed the counterfeit products for synthetic marijuana detected in Green Machine.

"100%, what you tested is a duplicate product," he said.

The American Association of Poison Centers considers the CBD an "emerging risk" because of the risk of mislabelling and contamination.

Last year, one of the cases involved an 8-year-old Washington boy who had been hospitalized after taking CBD oil ordered online by his parents in the hope that his seizures would be relieved, according to a case study published in the journal Clinical Toxicology in May. Instead, synthetic marijuana sent him to the hospital with symptoms including delirium and rapid heart rate.

Other disease groups have appeared in Mississippi and around military bases in North Carolina.

The labeling of many CBD products has been documented as being inaccurate. A study conducted in 2017 in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that 70% of CBD products were mislabeled. The researchers used an independent laboratory to test 84 products from 31 companies.

A false or spiked CBD is sufficiently disturbing for the leaders of the US Hemp Administration's industry group to have developed a skin and health product certification program containing CBD. Cassettes are not covered.

However, local and state authorities have limited ability to search problematic products at their roots.

After several high school students in Georgia passed out last year, authorities began to take a close look at the local tobacconists. One of the CBD vape brands they targeted was called Magic Puff.

The anti-drug team in Savannah and Chatham County arrested a store owner and two employees. But they could no longer follow the survey because it seemed that the products were being manufactured elsewhere, perhaps abroad. Gene Harley, assistant deputy director of the team, said they had provided a report to federal drug agents who deal with such cases.

Magic Puff was still on display at a Florida store this summer and the AP tests showed that the blueberry and strawberry cartons contained synthetic marijuana. Preliminary results also suggest the presence of a toxin produced by a fungus.

Because CBD is the active ingredient in an FDA-approved drug, it is the responsibility of the FDA to regulate its sale in the United States. However, if it turns out that the CBD products contain narcotics, the survey considers the work as a job for the DEA, said an FDA spokesman.

The DEA says that it focuses on the drugs responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans like fentanyl and methamphetamines.

"These will be more important priorities for enforcement," said DEA spokeswoman Mary Brandenberger.

Experts such as Michelle Peace, a forensic scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, who discovered synthetic marijuana during her own CBD testing, said the federal government should act quickly to protect the public.

"As long as it will remain unregulated as it is now," said Peace, "you just leave a very big space for the harmful activity to continue".

Mohr reported to Carlsbad, California; Panama City, Florida; and Jackson, Mississippi. Allen Breed in Lexington and Ninety Six in South Carolina contributed to this report; Juliet Linderman in New York, Philadelphia and Towson, Maryland; Reese Dunklin in Dallas; Krysta Fauria in Carlsbad and Los Angeles; Carla K. Johnson in Seattle; Justin Pritchard in Washington and Los Angeles; Rhonda Shafner in New York; Ted Warren at Grants Pass, Oregon; and Mitch Weiss in Lexington, South Carolina.