The Italian Public Prosecution Service has launched an investigation into an incident that left three young Italians hospitalized after consuming a cannabis-flavored product. This product probably comes from a Dutch webshop. The owner has withdrawn the product from sale.
Things went wrong last week on the night of Monday to Tuesday in Arzano, near Naples. Three friends (17, 19 and 22) tried out ‘THCP Honey’, which they ordered online for just 15 euros. THCP is a relatively new variant of the well-known cannabis substance THC, which is a lot stronger and gets you high much faster.
The three young people each took at most one teaspoon of the jar of honey, Italian media report based on information from the police. They soon developed breathing problems and lost control of their bodies. The 17-year-old ended up in intensive care in critical condition.
He, like his friends, is now out of danger and back home. Research must show whether the boys indeed overdosed on THCP, whether there was a severe allergic reaction, or whether they consumed something else. The latter is not excluded.
“The hospital reports a boy with breathing problems, which is normally not easily associated with cannabis,” Simona Pichini of the Italian Institute of Public Health told the newspaper La Repubblica.
Pichini is raising the alarm about what Italian young people are ordering online these days. “The problem is that no one knows exactly what is in the products that are sold or distributed to young people.”
Not stirred
The Italian police published photos of the honey pot and focused their investigation on a Dutch webshop. The local newspaper Napoli Corriere makes that link and shares screenshots of the webshop and the product page in question. It contains various warnings: the product is strictly 18+ and must be stirred before use.
The Dutch owner, who profiles his shop as ‘the number one supplier’ of cannabis-flavored sweets and drinks and substances such as HHC and THCP, confirms by telephone that an order was placed from Italy at the end of last month. He has now removed the honey from sale.
25 milligrams of THCP have been added to the jar in question. Because this extract floats in the regular honey, it sinks to the bottom or stays on top of it.
If you don’t stir well, you may swallow a large dose with your first teaspoon. This causes a heavy high and can lead to hallucinations. It is not yet clear whether this actually happened here.
Legal in the Netherlands
The entrepreneur says he is fully cooperating with the Italian investigation and assumes that he has not done anything criminal. Because THCP is a so-called designer drug, it does not fall under the Opium Act and can still be sold legally in the Netherlands.
In our country, sellers are therefore not at risk of prosecution, as long as their THCP products do not contain regular THC. That is the active substance in cannabis.
In Italy, on the other hand, there are heavy penalties for the sale and possession of these types of products. Offering THCP is seen there as drug trafficking.
Criminal or not?
The question now is whether a Dutch webshop is allowed to send a product containing THCP to Italy at all. Although there is free movement of goods within the EU, it is ultimately the local drug law that counts.
Anyone seeking clarification on this matter has so far been met with failure. The police and the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) refer to each other and cannot answer questions about this matter.
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