Leroy N. Soetoro
2018-04-09 02:12:08 UTC
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-fake-pot-poison-
cook-county-20180406-story.html
As a Chicago convenience store owner accused of selling tainted synthetic
pot was ordered to be held without bond Friday, authorities were
investigating the possibility that a third death could be tied to an
outbreak that has now sickened nearly 100 people in Illinois and continues
to worsen.
The Cook County medical examiners office reported Friday that rat poison
an ingredient that has recently been identified in several instances of
tainted synthetic marijuana that have turned up in central and northern
Illinois was found in the body of a 22-year-old Chicago man who died
last month.
The medical examiners office did not release specific details of the
Chicago mans demise March 28. But Oak Lawn police said Friday that they
investigated the death that occurred on the same day of a 22-year-old
Chicago man who, according to his family, recently had been smoking
synthetic marijuana. The man was found at a hotel on Cicero Avenue in Oak
Lawn, according to a police news release.
An autopsy revealed brodifacoum in the mans system and showed excessive
internal bleeding, according to police and the medical examiners office.
Brodifacoum is a rat poison. Health officials warned that poisoning by the
ingredient causes severe bleeding that can be fatal or lead to symptoms
that last for months, including unexplained bruising, bleeding in the
brain and vomiting blood. Recent patient reports of severe bleeding led
health officials to warn the public not to use any synthetic cannabinoid
products.
Brodifacoum is a highly lethal rodenticide and should not be consumed,
Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, Cook Countys chief medical examiner, said in a news
release as the outbreak entered its second month.
As of Friday, Illinois Department of Public Health officials have received
reports of 95 cases, including two deaths, linked to an outbreak of cases
reporting use of fake pot products before suffering from severe bleeding
since March 7.
According to federal prosecutors, as many as five people who have
complained of urinating blood and other severe symptoms reported that they
got sick after using illegal synthetic marijuana they had purchased at
King Mini Mart at 1303 S. Kedzie Ave. in Chicagos Lawndale neighborhood.
The owner of the convenience store, Fouad Masoud, 48, and two of his
employees, Jamil Abdelrahman Jad Allah and Adil Khan Mohammed, were
charged earlier this week with selling the synthetic pot branded with
names that included Blue Giant, Crazy Monkey and Matrix.
State health officials have said that the product is also sold under names
including K2, Spice, Black Mamba, Bombay Blue, Genie and
Zohai.
The investigation into the mini-mart owner and employees began last week
after Illinois State Police gave Chicago police information about someone
who had experienced adverse side effects reportedly after using synthetic
pot purchased at King Mini Mart. An undercover officer was sent into the
store and bought synthetic pot that was later tested and found to contain
rat poison, according to a criminal complaint.
In seeking to have Masoud detained pending trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Matthew Hernandez cited the number of people reportedly sickened from
product Masoud sold.
Hernandez also argued that Masoud, a Jordanian national, was a risk of
flight, telling U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin that when agents went
to arrest him Sunday night, he was leaving his Justice townhouse carrying
a paper grocery bag filled with $344,000 in cash. Police searched his home
and recovered 2,900 grams of suspected synthetic cannabis labeled Purple
Giant.
After his arrest, Masoud tried to mislead court officials by claiming to
be unemployed and denying that he owns the business, Hernandez said.
That is a significant red flag, the prosecutor said. One has to wonder
where all that money came from and what (he) was going to do with it.
Masoud also has a 2006 federal conviction for selling contraband
cigarettes in Indiana a case that ended with a term of probation,
Hernandez said.
Masouds lawyer, Michelle Truesdale, said Masoud has lived in the Chicago
area for more than two decades and has a valid work visa.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
He and his employees are charged with conspiracy to knowingly and
intentionally possess with intent to distribute and to distribute a
controlled substance. The charges could expand further when he is
indicted.
As state health officials have continued to report daily upticks in the
number of people reportedly sickened by the tainted synthetic marijuana,
health officials emphasized the serious harm that can come from
brodifacoum. The medical examiners office is also investigating another
case involving a person who died after suffering similar bleeding.
Toxicology testing is underway in that case, officials said.
Rat poison acts as a blood thinner and, even without symptoms, the
bloods ability to clot is severely impaired and risk of bleeding is
high, said Dr. Jenny Lu, toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at
Cook County Health & Hospitals Systems Stroger Hospital.
Treatment includes a form of vitamin K that can only be prescribed by a
physician or given in the hospital and involves taking high doses for
weeks to months, Lu said. Other interventions may be necessary.
As bleeding can be life-threatening, it is important that people who have
used synthetic marijuana seek medical attention at the first sign of
poisoning so we can begin treatment right away, Lu said.
Though synthetic pot has long been considered dangerous, severe bleeding
was not a known side effect, said Dr. Melissa Millewich, an emergency room
physician at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
This bleeding is not expected, at least in such a significant population
so quickly, she said.
Health officials say manufacturers could be slightly tweaking the
molecular makeup of the products as a way to get around a statewide ban
on fake pot products, allowing for them to be sold legally. They are also
sold on the street, she said, and those experiencing the bleeding said
they obtained the products in convenience stores and from dealers and
friends.
A change in the latest formula could be behind the new, dangerous symptom,
Millewich said. Because health officials dont know the exact makeup of
the products, its unclear whats causing the bleeding, she added.
While there have been no such cases at Good Samaritans ER, Millewich
said, synthetic pot has previously displayed life-threatening symptoms
like kidney failure, along with psychosis.
People dont realize how dangerous this is, she said.
The man-made substance is a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, often called
cannabinoids because they affect the same brain cell receptors as the main
ingredient in marijuana. Cannabinoids are sometimes sprayed on plant
material for smoking, or are sold as liquids to be vaporized and inhaled
in e-cigarettes and other devices, a health department warning stated. The
products are also sometimes referred to as herbal or liquid incense.
Chicago Tribunes Robert McCoppin and Kate Thayer contributed.
***@chicagotribune.com
***@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @vikkiortiztrib
Twitter @jmetr22b
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
cook-county-20180406-story.html
As a Chicago convenience store owner accused of selling tainted synthetic
pot was ordered to be held without bond Friday, authorities were
investigating the possibility that a third death could be tied to an
outbreak that has now sickened nearly 100 people in Illinois and continues
to worsen.
The Cook County medical examiners office reported Friday that rat poison
an ingredient that has recently been identified in several instances of
tainted synthetic marijuana that have turned up in central and northern
Illinois was found in the body of a 22-year-old Chicago man who died
last month.
The medical examiners office did not release specific details of the
Chicago mans demise March 28. But Oak Lawn police said Friday that they
investigated the death that occurred on the same day of a 22-year-old
Chicago man who, according to his family, recently had been smoking
synthetic marijuana. The man was found at a hotel on Cicero Avenue in Oak
Lawn, according to a police news release.
An autopsy revealed brodifacoum in the mans system and showed excessive
internal bleeding, according to police and the medical examiners office.
Brodifacoum is a rat poison. Health officials warned that poisoning by the
ingredient causes severe bleeding that can be fatal or lead to symptoms
that last for months, including unexplained bruising, bleeding in the
brain and vomiting blood. Recent patient reports of severe bleeding led
health officials to warn the public not to use any synthetic cannabinoid
products.
Brodifacoum is a highly lethal rodenticide and should not be consumed,
Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, Cook Countys chief medical examiner, said in a news
release as the outbreak entered its second month.
As of Friday, Illinois Department of Public Health officials have received
reports of 95 cases, including two deaths, linked to an outbreak of cases
reporting use of fake pot products before suffering from severe bleeding
since March 7.
According to federal prosecutors, as many as five people who have
complained of urinating blood and other severe symptoms reported that they
got sick after using illegal synthetic marijuana they had purchased at
King Mini Mart at 1303 S. Kedzie Ave. in Chicagos Lawndale neighborhood.
The owner of the convenience store, Fouad Masoud, 48, and two of his
employees, Jamil Abdelrahman Jad Allah and Adil Khan Mohammed, were
charged earlier this week with selling the synthetic pot branded with
names that included Blue Giant, Crazy Monkey and Matrix.
State health officials have said that the product is also sold under names
including K2, Spice, Black Mamba, Bombay Blue, Genie and
Zohai.
The investigation into the mini-mart owner and employees began last week
after Illinois State Police gave Chicago police information about someone
who had experienced adverse side effects reportedly after using synthetic
pot purchased at King Mini Mart. An undercover officer was sent into the
store and bought synthetic pot that was later tested and found to contain
rat poison, according to a criminal complaint.
In seeking to have Masoud detained pending trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Matthew Hernandez cited the number of people reportedly sickened from
product Masoud sold.
Hernandez also argued that Masoud, a Jordanian national, was a risk of
flight, telling U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin that when agents went
to arrest him Sunday night, he was leaving his Justice townhouse carrying
a paper grocery bag filled with $344,000 in cash. Police searched his home
and recovered 2,900 grams of suspected synthetic cannabis labeled Purple
Giant.
After his arrest, Masoud tried to mislead court officials by claiming to
be unemployed and denying that he owns the business, Hernandez said.
That is a significant red flag, the prosecutor said. One has to wonder
where all that money came from and what (he) was going to do with it.
Masoud also has a 2006 federal conviction for selling contraband
cigarettes in Indiana a case that ended with a term of probation,
Hernandez said.
Masouds lawyer, Michelle Truesdale, said Masoud has lived in the Chicago
area for more than two decades and has a valid work visa.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
He and his employees are charged with conspiracy to knowingly and
intentionally possess with intent to distribute and to distribute a
controlled substance. The charges could expand further when he is
indicted.
As state health officials have continued to report daily upticks in the
number of people reportedly sickened by the tainted synthetic marijuana,
health officials emphasized the serious harm that can come from
brodifacoum. The medical examiners office is also investigating another
case involving a person who died after suffering similar bleeding.
Toxicology testing is underway in that case, officials said.
Rat poison acts as a blood thinner and, even without symptoms, the
bloods ability to clot is severely impaired and risk of bleeding is
high, said Dr. Jenny Lu, toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at
Cook County Health & Hospitals Systems Stroger Hospital.
Treatment includes a form of vitamin K that can only be prescribed by a
physician or given in the hospital and involves taking high doses for
weeks to months, Lu said. Other interventions may be necessary.
As bleeding can be life-threatening, it is important that people who have
used synthetic marijuana seek medical attention at the first sign of
poisoning so we can begin treatment right away, Lu said.
Though synthetic pot has long been considered dangerous, severe bleeding
was not a known side effect, said Dr. Melissa Millewich, an emergency room
physician at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
This bleeding is not expected, at least in such a significant population
so quickly, she said.
Health officials say manufacturers could be slightly tweaking the
molecular makeup of the products as a way to get around a statewide ban
on fake pot products, allowing for them to be sold legally. They are also
sold on the street, she said, and those experiencing the bleeding said
they obtained the products in convenience stores and from dealers and
friends.
A change in the latest formula could be behind the new, dangerous symptom,
Millewich said. Because health officials dont know the exact makeup of
the products, its unclear whats causing the bleeding, she added.
While there have been no such cases at Good Samaritans ER, Millewich
said, synthetic pot has previously displayed life-threatening symptoms
like kidney failure, along with psychosis.
People dont realize how dangerous this is, she said.
The man-made substance is a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, often called
cannabinoids because they affect the same brain cell receptors as the main
ingredient in marijuana. Cannabinoids are sometimes sprayed on plant
material for smoking, or are sold as liquids to be vaporized and inhaled
in e-cigarettes and other devices, a health department warning stated. The
products are also sometimes referred to as herbal or liquid incense.
Chicago Tribunes Robert McCoppin and Kate Thayer contributed.
***@chicagotribune.com
***@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @vikkiortiztrib
Twitter @jmetr22b
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.