Beware of marijuana-laced brownies, PDEA warns public

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
October 11, 2012

GOVERNMENT CENTER, Palo, Leyte  –  The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) recently warned the public about the proliferation of marijuana-laced brownies, or cakes, in the streets.

PDEA Region 8 Director Julius Navales informed that PDEA Director General Undersecretary Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. issued the warning in light of a recent report citing the existence of homemade baked goods that contained marijuana presented as a birthday gift.

Director Navales said that last week, a nurse in a provincial hospital in San Marcelino, Zambales received three boxes of baked brownies from a certain chef as birthday present, which she shared with co-workers.

Unfortunately, later that day, 17 employees of the hospital felt dizziness and pain, and eventually fell ill after eating the brownies. They were given immediate medical attention.

The brownies were then submitted for laboratory examination and the results yielded positive result for the presence of marijuana. The specimen was confirmed to contain extracted marijuana leaves purposely mixed as ingredients in baking the brownies.

In a statement, Director General Gutierrez said that “Eating marijuana-spiked brownies, or pastries present major health risks. The continuous consumption of these has the potential to be addictive to unsuspecting consumers.”

Marijuana is considered to be a gateway drug and its users have a strong inclination to move on to much-harder drugs later on, Gutierrez added.

This is the reason that PDEA is sending out this stern warning to the public not to accept any box of goodies from anonymous persons as the same may contain illegal drugs, Director Navales said.