Convenience store owner Fouad Masoud, owner of the King Mini Mart on South Kedzie Avenue on the west side of Chicago, will spend the next seven years in prison for selling K2 laced with rat poison. Prosecutors had fought for a sentence of 10 years, citing Masoud’s admission to selling upwards of 80 packages of K2 a day.
2018 Outbreak of K2-Related Sicknesses in Chicago Led to Shop Owner’s Arrest
Between March and April 2018, the Illinois Department of Health had received roughly 100 reports of hospitalizations due to severe bleeding. After recognizing a pattern in the cases, state health officials began linking them to patients’ consumption of so-called synthetic marijuana.
Typically sold under the monicker of “K2” or “Spice,” synthetic marijuana is a lab-made analog of the THC cannabinoid cannabis plants naturally produce. But these lab-made copies are imperfect and typically, way more potent, with more severe, long-lasting effects, than natural cannabis.
But it’s not the synthetic cannabinoids that are necessarily making people sick. Rather, its the mysterious chemical mixture used to produce the imitation cannabis compounds. During the 2018 rash of severe bleeding cases in Chicago, patients showed signs that they had consumed brodifacoum, otherwise known as rat poison. Brodifacoum is a lethal anti-coagulant that causes severe internal bleeding. Its effects can last up to months and are often fatal.
Amid the investigation launched to respond to the K2 epidemic, allegations surfaced that one of the victims had purchased synthetic marijuana from King Mini Mart, owned by Masoud. Chicago police sent an undercover cop to the convenience store to buy a packet of the drug. Lab tests later revealed the packet contained rat