Cannabis sold in Europe 'contains FAECES because smugglers take laxatives to expel pellets'

Cannabis being sold on the streets of Europe may be contaminated with faeces, scientists have discovered.

Samples sold in Madrid have been tested and found to be safe and effective.

Most of the samples were too dangerous to be consumed and posed to public health risk, the researchers said.

Though the study was only conducted in Spain, one expert told MailOnline the same 'unusual' thing could be happening in the UK and other places in Europe.

This is because the drug is sometimes smuggled into countries – by swallowing it and later excreting it with the use of laxatives.

Experts said the findings are worrying about some people who use cannabis.

The research team, led by José Manuel Moreno Pérez, a pharmacologist from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, collected 90 samples in Madrid over a year.

The samples were separated into 'acorns' or 'ingots', which are the shapes they are bought in.

Each sample was then broken down into smaller pieces and looked at under a microscope, the authors write in the journal Forensic Science International.

They found that 93 per cent of the acorn-shaped samples were contaminated with E. coli, and 29.4 per cent of the ingot samples.

Some 10 per cent of the cannabis samples were also contaminated with Aspergillus, a dangerous fungus that can cause serious health problems such as lung infections.

A total of 88.3 per cent of the samples were used in the United States and US.

The odd of each sample was also recorded and 40 per cent of acorns had an aroma of faeces, the researchers said. All of these have been contaminated with E. coli.

This is the place where you can get into the world – where it's illegal – can be blame.

Mr Pérez told Spanish newspaper El País the drug is swept up in small plastic pellets and swallowed before the drug smugglers then 'take a laxative and expel' them in a toilet.

The cause of contamination may not cause harm if it is inhaled.

Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in mental health and addiction at the University of York, said the findings were "very unusual" because of the fact that they would be badociated with a drug-like cocaine.

He said: 'This highlights just how much you do not know what you will be exposed to. The same thing could happen in the UK as has happened in Madrid.

However, he said the contamination of E. coli could have been of the hands of the people who processed the drugs.

He added the results for those who use cannabis.

'We know that some people who have problems with their health problems and have problems with them. This group would be particularly vulnerable to this type of contamination which could make it much worse.

'The risk of exposure to these types of bacteria in an illegal market where some dealers and suppliers do not have any adhere to any quality control.'

With asthma or cystic fibrosis, the causes of weakened immune systems or lung diseases are as high as those of Aspergillus fungus.

The findings, the authors said, are similar to that of a study that badyzed the samples of coffee sold in coffee shops in the Netherlands, which also found that 80 percent were contaminated with E. coli.