What Is Laced Weed and How Can You Tell?

Phencyclidine (PCP) is a powerful dissociative hallucinogenic drug that has been found in marijuana for decades.[2] It’s used to produce more varied psychoactive effects, usually on unsuspecting users.
When it’s known, PCP-laced weed goes by street names like fry, superweed, dusted weed, and wet weed. The effects are highly variable but may include:

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Aggression
• Confusion
• Suicidal behavior
• Seizures
• Respiratory issues
• Increased risk-taking behavior

Though there have been a few reports of heroin-laced marijuana, it’s more likely for someone to deliberately combine heroin and marijuana than to be deliberately contaminated. Heroin is an expensive drug, and there’s simply no financial benefit to lacing marijuana with it.

That said, combining marijuana and heroin can be extremely dangerous, especially for first-time users. Consuming heroin-laced marijuana can lead to life-threatening symptoms like:

• Depressed breathing
• Depressed heart rate
• Confusion
• Overdose

Remember that heroin may be laced with fentanyl, significantly increasing the risk of adverse effects, overdose, and fatality.

Lacing marijuana with cocaine, or crack cocaine, can produce unique psychoactive effects that offset the sedative effects of marijuana. Typically, this is done deliberately by recreational users, not found at the source.

Coke-laced weed can produce several unpleasant effects, especially on unsuspecting users, including:

• Paranoia
• Hallucinations
• Seizures
• Cardiovascular issues
• Overdose

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug that may be added to marijuana. Smoking acid-laced weed won’t have any serious effects, as LSD is inactivated by heat, but some people dab the end of a marijuana cigarette in LSD to keep it in contact with their lips and produce hallucinogenic effects.

Even small doses of LSD can have powerful and potentially dangerous effects, including “bad trips” that involve emotionally upsetting experiences and risk-taking behavior that can lead to injuries or death.

Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system stimulant that can be used with marijuana to counteract the depressant effects. Methamphetamine-laced weed is uncommon, especially undisclosed to the user, but it can produce extremely dangerous effects like:

• Confusion
• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Seizures

Cases of marijuana laced with embalming fluid have been reported since the 1970s, but there’s some confusion around the name. PCP has the street name “embalming fluid,” which led to some producers and users lacing their marijuana with actual embalming fluid – a chemical preservative for tissues that are comprised of formaldehyde, methanol, and other hazardous ingredients.[3]

Smoking PCP-laced weed can produce powerful psychoactive effects, but smoking weed laced with actual embalming fluid can cause significant damage to the lungs, nasal passages, and brain. In younger people, embalming fluid can accumulate in the spinal column and stunt growth.

These two common lacing methods may be combined. Embalming fluid is used as a solvent to mix PCP into a liquid dip for smoking marijuana, which can result in severe paranoia, hallucinations, and violent actions. This is known as a “fry” and may include codeine-laced cough syrup as well.

As mentioned, fentanyl is rarely intentionally added to marijuana, but marijuana can be laced accidentally. Fentanyl is incredibly potent, even in extremely small doses, so just some dust on buds or laced edibles can be enough to create a dangerous situation.

The symptoms of fentanyl-laced marijuana include:

• Clammy skin
• Slowed heart rate
• Seizures
• Severe drowsiness

If you or a loved one experience any of these laced-weed effects or suspect your marijuana may be laced, seek medical attention. Marijuana laced with certain drugs can be a fatal combination, especially for someone who isn’t used to taking the drug.