Testing for synthetics

A good friend of mine started buying pre-filled 510 cartridges from his regular herb dealer. The dealer is a pretty straight-up guy, and typically sells a QP of very nice bud for $800. That is a reasonable price for dank in this (not legal) US state. The cartridges are allegedly from a legal state (here) in the US. There are several types, the attached photo shows one of them. One of them says 100% High Quality THC on the front and above that it says 80% THC.

I suspected immediately that they were fake, probably one or more 'noids.

The fact that the liquid is clear and as runny as water raised my suspicion, but I believe that there are several legitimate distillate products that appear similar. I took two medium hits from one of the cartridges after being warned that it "Hits hard". I have been a daily smoker for 35+ years and I know what strong herb is like, and this was not pot. It tasted like what licking Professor Shulgin's workbench probably does before he cleans it. I was at an 8 or 9 immediately. My heart raced unnaturally, and although I didn't check it, I am sure my blood pressure went up. I was back to baseline in well under an hour.

I purchased several tests online for detecting THC, and several for detecting synthetic cannabinoids. After carefully opening one of the cartridges and testing the contents, the tests were positive for both real THC and for synthetics.

My question for the gurus of Reddit is simply how is this possible? The obvious answer is that someone added some real extract, possibly to lend the taste and effectof real cannabis, much in the same way that sellers of fentanyl might add real heroin to their poison to disguise what it really is. I am having a difficult time believing this is the case though.

I have an email in to the company that makes these tests, in the hope that they can tell me whether some synthetics can produce false positives for real THC.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Do these fake cartridges ever come as a blend of 'noids and real THC? I am personally not averse to synthetics being used by adults, providing that they are accurately labeled, but these are diluted with 'noids at best, pure 'noids at worst.

My friend paid $40 for each of these. He bought about half a dozen of all different kinds, some say indica, some sativa, but the only one that has the THC label on it tested for synthetics.

The money is meaningless to us, I don't even want it back. But I would dearly love to know how these carts came to test positive for both. Some like the one pictured are in rack display cases, some are in individual boxes as if they are intended to be sold as part of a set. They could also be actual counterfeit products boxed and labeled as the real thing.

I am resisting the urge to pick up my Louisville Slugger and take a drive to the dealer's house. He might be dumb enough not to know any better.

Does anyone have any thoughts on WTF might be in this stuff that is testing positive for both real and fake THC? Again, I sincerely doubt that it is both, it has absolutely no terp flavor, and the high is very different.

TL;DR: Be careful with pre-made cartridges, they may be more dangerous than buying from legit RC vendors. And whatever you do, don't buy the treated lawn clippings that are often sold openly here on Reddit and other forums. If they are ashamed to tell you honestly what is in it, you probably don't want to use it.

Thanks for reading this, and for any thoughts on the matter. Be safe and stay lifted, frients.

Shitty oil upgraded with noids.

Labeling and duration screams Noids tbch with you. Throw it away, and find a legit connect for thc oil.

It could be noids, it could also be thc distillate, which is a mostly clear liquid with little taste. The producers of thc distillate frequently add terpenes from fruits or from strains of weed to put flavor back into the distillate.

It tests positive for both. I emailed the manufacturer of the tests, just to see if maybe some synthetics show a false positive for real THC.

It could be a mix of both, too, just low quality distillate made potent artificially. People here know much more about 'noids than I do. I had a gram of JWH-018 when it was first available, I didn't like it and gave it away. Next think I know, there are more than a dozen families with hundreds of actives floating around. That is amazing, awesome, indicative of human ingenuity and a testament to the power of capitalism and it's resilience against unfair laws, but it still sucks that people counterfeit. Noids aren't the problem, scammers are.

Guess that got a little off-topic, but I am still a little troubled by the whole affair. I don't give two shits about the money, it just sorta drags pot through the mud a little bit, at a time when legalizing is showing up on ballots. We need to be as pristine as we can, and if people start ODing on synthetics that look and test real, it could scare away older voters who aren't in touch enough to understand what is happening.

We can't have herb taking the rap for the damage done by synthetics.

I couldn’t agree with you more. Here in Texas, there was a big press conference on the news in Houston about some “CBD” vape juice brands l being actually synths, and a bunch of head shops got raided. That totally fucks things up for the legit CBD market.

I'm in Houston myself too, that whole press conference pissed me off. They weren't very clear now everyone wants to ban CBD