Embalming fluid-soaked marijuana: new high or new guise for PCP?
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Updated: Oct 28, 2026

Development of a Preclinical Inhalation Model to Test Vaporized Cannabis Distillates
Published on: May 30, 2025
J A Holland1, L Nelson, P R Ravikumar
1Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, Bellevue Hospital, and New York University School of Medicine, New York 10016, USA.
Abstract:
A growing trend of smoking marijuana soaked in what is purported to be embalming fluid has been reported in the literature since the mid-1980s. This article describes several cases of intoxication, gives regional epidemiological data on this phenomenon, and includes current nomenclature. The authors also analyze a sample of fluid said to be embalming fluid and discover PCP (phencyclidine) and multiple congeners and by-products of PCP manufacture. The implications of this finding are discussed, and the hypothesis that most embalming fluid-soaked marijuana likely contains PCP is considered.
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