A bread made in celebration of Three Kings Day was contaminated with synthetic cannabinoid, or synthetic pot. It affected at least 40 people with the symptoms that included heart palpitations, dizziness, numbness and hallucinations.
This specific chemical, JWH-122, was developed for research and would be illegal to have, but other forms of synthetic pot, known as Spice or K2, can be purchased legally.
Police continue to investigate how the chemical got into the food, most likely a case of intentional contamination.
Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bread-648036-synthetic-people.html
Testing: Three Kings Day bread laced with 'substantial' amount of synthetic pot
Jan. 13, 2015 Updated Jan. 14, 2015 9:56 p.m.
A holiday sweet bread that caused dozens in Orange County to become ill might have been deliberately laced with a synthetic drug that mimics the active ingredient in marijuana, the president of a Santa Ana-based lab said Tuesday.
Neil Spingarn, a pharmacologist who heads up S&N Laboratories, tested a sample of the Three Kings Day bread and found it contaminated with “a substantial” amount of a synthetic cannabinoid – an artificial THC with intensified effects. THC is the main chemical ingredient in marijuana.
“The levels in the cake are not small.” Spingarn said. “What is most striking is that this was not inadvertent.”
The Register obtained a sample of the bread from a Santa Ana woman who said it made her ill last week and hired S&N Labs, which is licensed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, to test it.
The Orange County Health Care Agency has said its own preliminary lab results found a unidentified synthetic drug in the bread, prompting the Santa Ana Police Department to launch a criminal investigation. Health investigators have not confirmed a specific drug and further lab results are expected within two weeks, authorities said.
Neither agency would comment Tuesday on the findings by the outside lab.
The owners of the bakery that made the bread, Cholula’s Bakery in Santa Ana, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. They have been cooperating with investigators, police said.
The bakery made the bread for the Three Kings Day celebration on Jan. 6 and distributed it to nine stores in Orange County and one in Long Beach.
More than 40 people who ate the bread became ill last week with symptoms that included heart palpitations, dizziness, numbness and hallucinations. Ireri Hinojosa, one of the customers who purchased the bread and received treatment at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, shared a sample of the tainted bread with the Register.
S&N Laboratories tested that sample and found the presence of a chemical that’s commonly used to make synthetic pot, often called “spice,” “incense” and “K2.”
It’s a chemical alternative to marijuana that often is diluted with water, sprayed onto herbs and smoked like marijuana. It is sold in head shops in small shiny packages for about $50 for about 2 grams, according to Vijay Rathi, a special agent with the DEA.
Spice looks like marijuana, but its side effects are more severe and can include hallucinations, aggressive behavior and hypertension, police and health officials say. The potpourri of chemicals are not listed on the packaging.
“It’s a bigger high, and they market it as a legal high; that’s why people are willing to pay more for it,” Rathi said.
Spingarn identified the specific strain contaminating the bread as JWH-122, named after John W. Huffman, a chemist who designed synthetic cannabis to use for in vitro research on the interaction between drugs and brain receptors. This strain is illegal, but that’s not true of all synthetic drugs. Underground chemists in China and India are making new strains quicker than the DEA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration can ban them.
“The people who are making this stuff, they’re chemists and they’re very familiar with the Controlled Substances Act. All they do is check the federal register to see what’s illegal,” Rathi said. “It’s completely frustrating.”
Spice sent 11,000 people to U.S. emergency rooms in 2010. That number soared the following year, to 28,500. Most cases were teenagers, according to the DEA.
Other types of synthetic drugs include those similar to amphetamine and ecstasy, including “bath salts.”
Francisco Mora, who works as a butcher, was among six workers at La Bodega Market in Orange who fell ill after eating the rosca de reyes sweet bread.
He said Tuesday he still has back pain and headaches and his hands shake. It was upsetting, he said, to hear that someone possibly laced the bread.
“They’re not thinking of all the people that would react to it, including babies and older people,” he said.
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tainted-bread-20150109-story.html
Police open criminal probe into drug-laced bread that sickened 40
By Teresa Watanabe
January 9, 2015
Santa Ana police Friday opened a criminal investigation into circumstances surrounding bread from an Orange County bakery that was tentatively found to have been tainted with drugs and is suspected of sickening at least 40 people.
Cholula's Bakery in Santa Ana, which distributed the holiday bread known as Rosca de Reyes, has been closed pending investigations by police and the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Police were first notified by three hospitals Monday that about 20 people had come to their emergency rooms suffering from hallucinations and other symptoms, according to Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. He said none of them suffered serious enough symptoms to be admitted to the hospital.
“The one common factor was they had all eaten the same bread,” he said.
Police immediately sealed the bakery and notified Orange County health officials, who launched an investigation and closed the business Tuesday after finding traces of cockroach infestation, Bertagna said.
But preliminary lab results from product samples have indicated the presence of a synthetic drug, which Bertagna declined to further describe pending final lab results expected in a week or two.
Health officials will keep the bakery closed until it disposes of all opened food and ingredients used to make the bread, completes professional restaurant-grade cleaning and provides mandatory food training to all staff.
The circular-shaped Rosca de Reyes bread, typically baked with a baby Jesus figure inside, is eaten to celebrate Three Kings Day.
More http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tainted-bread-20150109-story.html
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