4 overdoses in 5 days: Salisbury Police warn of marijuana laced with fentanyl

SALISBURY, N.C. — Black-market marijuana in central North Carolina could have more than THC and CBD in it -- the Salisbury Police Department posted a warning this week saying community members are concerned that fentanyl is being added to weed.

The warning comes after four people died of suspected overdoses in a five-day period, according to Salisbury PD.

Salisbury Police told Channel 9 that while no cases have been confirmed as of Thursday, the department sent marijuana to a state lab to test whether or not it was laced with fentanyl. It could take up to three months to get the results back.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is “50-100 times stronger than morphine,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA says that fentanyl is added to heroin to increase its potency and many users don’t know that they are purchasing fentanyl, which has resulted in overdose deaths. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department has been taking special precautions to protect officers from fentanyl exposure since at least 2017.

The drug has also been found in counterfeit prescription pills, including one case that 9 Investigates reported in November, when a man in Hickory died from exposure to fentanyl in a fake pill. Salisbury PD said narcotics officers have also found “counterfeit Xanax, Oxycodone, and Roxycodone pills that dealers are selling on the street that may be tied to some of the overdoses.”

“It looks like normal prescription medication that would be labeled Xanax or Oxycodone, but it’s not,” said Salisbury Police Lieutenant PJ Smith.

Smith told Channel 9 that investigators are trying to figure out if the drugs came from the same dealer.

“If we can link it back to one then hopefully we can get that homicide charge,” Smith said.

The Salisbury Police Department didn’t identify the four people who died of suspected overdoses, but the department said, “Most of the victims have been under 30 years old, and a few of them have only been known to use marijuana.”

Police departments around the country have been increasingly ringing alarm bells about cannabis being spiked with fentanyl. However, after a rash of overdoses in late 2021 across Connecticut were suspected to be caused by fentanyl-laced weed, the state’s Department of Public Health said only one case was confirmed out of 39 potential cases.

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