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Citizen complaint of the day: Dogs getting high in the North End

Remains of a joint in the North End

A fed up citizen filed a 311 complaint about the left-over joints now littering the streets of the North End:

My dog has been eating remains of joints on the street and getting high. Please help keep clean. I found this joint in his mouth.

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Comments

for humans weed is about as psychoactive as oregano when ingested orally. is it different for dogs?

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Nope it isn't.

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for humans weed is about as psychoactive as oregano when ingested orally.

That's what people often think 15 minutes after eating some.... "Gee, this isn't doing much," so they eat more... another 15 minutes, "Gee, still not doing much, better eat more..." and then, when the digestive system finally absorbs it.... the next 12 hours spent on one's back staring at the ceiling too wasted to move.

Or so I've heard.

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I mean, I'm not an expert, but I always thought that it had to be "cooked" in some form in order for you to experience any effect (hence putting it into butter, brownies, cookies, etc).

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There is a chemical reaction, decarboxylation, that occurs during combustion (smoking) that converts non-psychoactive THCA into the THC we know and love. When edibles are made, this step must be performed in an oven prior to cooking the bud into butter/oil/etc, otherwise it's a waste of weed.

Eating an unprocessed nug of weed will do nothing.

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Decarb is true -- but a roach is decarbed by virtue of having a cherry at the end of it for a while. The uncombusted flower is partially decarbed, and its got fully decarbed resin/reclaim on it too.

I would expect eating a roach to get you high, and that's not a nice thing to do to dogs at all. They do NOT like it.

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it may not be nearly as effective/efficient as after decarbing, and there are many factors affecting absorption (cf. "first pass effect") and one's subjective experience, but I can guar-an-tee you that ingesting unprocessed cannabis can do more than nothing.

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Eating an unprocessed nug of weed will do nothing.

What the dog's eating is not unprocessed weed, though; it's a roach. The smoke from the lit end of the blunt passes through the rest of the weed on the way to the smoker's lips, and some of the stuff in the smoke condenses out; by the time there's nothing but the roach left, what it contains is pretty well soaked with resins that have condensed out of the smoke.

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false.

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100% false? Pfft.

I admit I was rushing to finish that comment before leaving for lunch, and I left some pertinent thoughts out of it (which others have covered in their replies to mine). But completely false? Baloney.

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While that weed has not been burnt, there is a burnt end on it and the smoke from the burning end has passed through the unburnt weed. This results in the weed being heated and the weed being infused with smoke.

In other words, there is plenty there to get fido blazed.

I suspect that fido knows this and is seeking out the dank nugs with the usual canine scent tracking zeal.

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That is not from eating raw marijuana. In order to achieve desired effects you have to decarboxylate it first.

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The only solution that I've found is a soft muzzle device - you can keep them from eating stuff they shouldn't with a gentle pull.

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that's my first thought - cig butts are much worse for pest and they've been on the sidewalk forever (Gross in general). What are the literal health effects of a butt vs blunt for pets?

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Dogs eat weed butts - circle the wagons, we've got a major crisis that needs to be addressed immediately.

Just more paranoia to bolster the anti-pot crowd.

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With a tightass owner like that he could probably use the weed.

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The guy is reporting trash on the system used to report trash. Noting a problem is exactly what 311 is used for.

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Dear City of Boston, the street is not white glove clean, please do something about that...

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...diagnosed at Angell vet hospital, because she could barely stand up and was incontinent (also an enhanced startle reflex is part of the diagnosis as well). Presumably she scarfed a roach or edible remains off the sidewalk when we weren't looking. She was fine the next morning; call me tight-assed but we'd like to avoid this in the future.

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I highly doubt that. How did they determine it was cannabis?

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Vets know by the way the dog is acting and reacting - and recovering. How? Because people will now bring their pets in when they have eaten edibles because they won't be prosecuted for having them.

A friend's dog got dosed because he got into an edible that someone dropped in the park. They knew what it was because they took it away from the dog. Results were quite similar.

How about you read up on the subject before commenting? Oh, because you want to believe something, rather than face the facts that our dank habits have impacts on our pets.

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...the vet ticked off all 3 diagnostic symptoms (gait/lack of balance, incontinence, startle response) and said she was seeing it more often in the last year, in some cases where owners had definitely seen their dog eat the roach or gummy or whatever.

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A roach is not an edible. Roach and gummies are entirely different things.

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don’t walk spot through newmarket square. he’ll come out the other side a stone cold junkie.

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You really ought to talk to your dog about the risks of drugs rather than expecting government to keep him from getting high.

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Shut it down.

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A bit of an aggressive side-thought, but how about a different neighborhood or the burbs? North End is not a place for a dog. Pots legal and your talking about the most densely populated neighborhood with the most foot traffic in the city. There are going to be cigarette butts (and other crap your dog shouldn't be ingesting) on the street.

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People in the burbs smoke and use edibles, too. Sometimes they drop them while hiking.

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Are you suggesting residents of the North End should not own dogs due to population density?

You realize pets have lived there since the 1630's?

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Even into the 20th century people had cows for milk, chickens for eggs, horses for transportation, oxen for drayage, etc.

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that's a blunt.

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marijuana is not water soluble. it is fat soluble. it requires a process called decarboxilation to activate the THC. you can eat a bag of dried buds and it wont do anything but taste weird. this dog is not getting high.

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Talk to a veterinarian.

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eat a few roaches and tell me how you feel. you'll be sick because it'll taste like fucking shit, but you wont be high. i'm sure your vet will be able to tell you that.

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Roaches have had heat drawn through them and also become infused with the smoke.

Just because you don't understand physics and chemistry on a fundamentally basic level doesn't make what you want to believe into facts.

A small dog eating a roach is also different from a human doing the same, as the dog weighs an order of magnitude less than the human.

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how much heat, what temperature? for how long? enough for decarbing to occur? i'm not sure you can say that as a scientific fact in this case given the information provided.

but you know enough to know eating roaches wont make you high.

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that's why is it called a 'dog end'

"Leg hurting bad as he bends to pick a dog end"

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Does he just want to lay on the couch and watch Adult Swim we he knows he needs to get up in a few hours?

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At least he hasn't been eating the discarded needles.

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I was gonna be a good boy but then I got high
Gonna play with my chew toy but I got high
Now I don't get my treats and I know why
Because I got high
Because I got high
Because I got high

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This is what happens when you legalize pets.

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From reading the comments I doubt if any of the commenters who are down-playing the alleged dog ingestion stories have anything beyond casual contact with Canines.

Dogs share a lot with us -- particularly from the standpoint of social relationships and "pack behavior". Dogs also share a lot with us in certain physiological aspects -- such as the susceptibility to diabetes, cancer, heart disease, epilepsy, etc., -- yet there are profound physiological differences as well.

For example -- feed a human a fairly large piece of high cacao content chocolate -- they might or might not like it and it might effect them slightly in their mental state. Feed the same size [scaled by weight] piece to a dog and some dogs will suffer a fatal almost anaphylactic reaction. Similarly dogs can get very sick from raisins, garlic and avocados.

Moral of the story -- make like Cheach and / or Chong -- just leave Fido out of it

Here are some comments from reputable sources about Bad foods for Dogs and some authoritative sources on Canines and Marijuana:

BAD Food for Dogs:

Chocolate:
No, dogs should never eat chocolate. This isn’t just an urban legend. Chocolate contains toxic substances called methylxanthines, which are stimulants that stop a dog’s metabolic process. Even just a little bit of chocolate, especially dark chocolate, can cause diarrhea and vomiting. A large amount can cause seizures, irregular heart function, and even death. Do not have chocolate in an accessible location for your dog. If your dog does ingest chocolate, contact a veterinarian or Pet Poison Helpline as soon as possible.
Eggs: Yes, dogs can eat eggs. Eggs are safe for dogs as long as they are fully cooked. Cooked eggs are a wonderful source of protein and can help an upset stomach. However, eating raw egg whites can contribute to biotin deficiency, so be sure to cook the eggs all the way through before giving them to your pet.

Garlic:
No, dogs shouldn’t eat garlic. Like onions, leeks, and chives, garlic is part of the Allium family, and it is five times more toxic to dogs than the rest of the Allium plants. Garlic can create anemia in dogs, causing side effects such as pale gums, elevated heart rate, weakness, and collapse. Poisoning from garlic and onions may have delayed symptoms, so if you think your dog may have eaten some, monitor him or her for a few days, not just right after consumption.

Macadamia nuts:
No, dogs should never eat macadamia nuts. These are some of the most poisonous foods for dogs. Macadamia nuts, part of the Protaceae family, can cause vomiting, increased body temperature, inability to walk, and lethargy. Even worse, they can affect the nervous system. Never feed your dog macadamia nuts.

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/human-foods-dogs-can-and-can...

Marijuana and Canines

MARIJUANA TOXICITY IN PETS
Audra Stillabower, CVT
Veterinary Information Specialist

With its legalization in various states across the United States, marijuana is becoming very common in households for medicinal purposes. In fact, over the past 6 years, Pet Poison Helpline has experienced a 448% increase in marijuana cases. Here’s what you should know about marijuana ingestion in pets.

Marijuana or Cannabis sativa/Cannabis indica is used for recreational drug use and for medicinal purposes. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the two most commonly recognized, utilized, and studied cannabinoids although there are over 80 different cannabinoids in marijuana plants. The primary difference between the two is that THC causes psychotropic effects and has a moderate level of toxicity while CBD is non-psychotropic and is felt by many investigators to be non-toxic or have limited toxicity. The exact amount of each cannabinoid varies widely from strain to strain and plant to plant…..

Animals can be poisoned by marijuana in different ways. They can ingest marijuana edibles such as brownies or pot butter, ingest the owner’s supply of marijuana (in any formulation), or by second hand smoke. Common symptoms of marijuana toxicity include sedation/lethargy, dilated pupils or glassed over eyes, dazed expression, difficulty walking and vomiting. Other symptoms can include either a low or high heart rate, vocalization such as whining or crying, agitation, trouble regulating temperature causing the body temperature to drop or rise and incontinence/dribbling urine, tremors, seizures and potentially coma. Signs of toxicity can be seen anywhere from 5 minutes to 12 hours after the animal is exposed to marijuana. The signs can potentially last 30 minutes to several days depending on the dose ingested.

Although there is no true antidote for marijuana, veterinarians can give supportive care to help the pet through the clinical signs. Vets can regulate the temperature of the animal to ensure they aren’t too hot or cold and give fluids to help maintain hydration. They can give anti-vomiting medication to help stop fluid loss and closely monitor the animal’s heart rate to ensure that it is stable. Due to the animal having trouble walking and potentially injuring itself, the clinic staff can help keep the pet comfortable and confined so they won’t be injured. In a lot of cases, a veterinarian may give activated charcoal. This is a liquid that the animal drinks or is given that can help bind the toxin in the stomach or intestines to the charcoal and prevent absorption into the body.

Animals normally do well with supportive care, however large ingestions of marijuana can be dangerous…..
https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/pet-safety-tips/marijuana-toxicity-pets/

https://www.caninejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/dog-marijuana-infograph...

Is Cannabis Poisonous To Dogs?
According to the Pet Poison Helpline, the risk of cannabis poisoning in dogs is moderate to severe.
If your dog accidentally eats marijuana, you should call your veterinarian or Animal Poison Control immediately.
The ingestion of too much marijuana can be life threatening.

Symptoms to look out for:
• Severe depression
• Walking drunk
• Lethargy
• Coma
• Low heart rate
• Low blood pressure
• Respiratory depression
• Dilated pupils
• Coma
• Hyperactivity
• Vocalization
• Seizures

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... chocolate is indeed toxic to dogs but not extremely so. One ounce of high cacao chocolate per ten pounds of dog (e.g., your 25 lb dog eats 3 squares of baking chocolate) warrants a fast trip to the emergency vet. A chocolate chip cookie or a brownie on the other hand? Possible diarrhea but not reason to panic.
This is third hand info from one source; make of it what you will...

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And maybe pretending that he's buzzed so he can hang with the cool kids?

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Looks like Fido snarfed all the available joints/blunts:

CLOSED Case Noted. Area checked. No additional joints found on ground at this time.

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Better a roach than a needle. Quit your bitching. No pun

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Stop fucking with my high and just hold the damn leash!

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True Story.
I was at my Cape rental and when I woke up my dog was really panting hard. Then when I moved him he had a big wet spot on the sheet, but it was not pee (smell test confirmed). So now I am getting concerned. I put him on the floor and he cannot stand up straight. I put Frontline on both the dogs the night before so at first I thought my boy dig licked it off my girl dog and was poisoned. I was panicking. Meanwhile, my roommate is looking around for something. Turns out he (roommate) brought down a bag of weed and my boy dog got into it and ate most of it. Took him to the vet and the vet confirmed my dog was 'intoxicated'. He also said he has seen this many time. He told me to let him rest, drink lots of water, and gave me eye cream. The dog was better about 24 hours later. So yes it can happen when dogs eat cannabis.

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