from the bench
Indiana and Wisconsin Respond
to Synthetic Cannabinoid
Contamination
by Aaron Bolner, chemist, Indiana State Public Health Laboratory; Mary Hagerman, chemistry
division director, Indiana State Public Health Laboratory; Pradip Patel, food chemistry supervisor,
Indiana State Public Health Laboratory; and Noel V. Stanton, chemical response coordinator,
Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene
The use of synthetic cannabinoids has
been on the rise since their introduction
in the early 2000s. Synthetic cannabinoids
are dried plant material—often similar in
appearance to tea leaves or herbs—which
are sprayed with a chemical mixture,
packaged and sold as a legal alternative
to marijuana. Sellers of these products,
often referred to as “spice,” “K2” or “fake
weed,” are constantly altering formulas
to stay ahead of the laws and to enhance
potency, sometimes with lethal effects.
After epidemiologists identified synthetic
cannabinoids as the source of a spring
2018 outbreak of unexplained bleeding,
two state public health laborat