Cannabis retrieved from man's nose 18 years after he tried to smuggle it into prison

A man who attempted to smuggle cannabis into prison by hiding it in a balloon up his nose has retrieved the drugs more than 18 years later, after mistakenly believing he had swallowed the package.

His doctors reported on the "unique case" in a paper published in the British Medical Journal under the heading of "a nose out of joint".

According to the lead author Dr Murray Smith of Westmead Hospital in Australia, the patient was first given the cannabis inside a rubber balloon when his girlfriend visited him in prison.

The man inserted the package into his right nostril to hide it from the prison guards and smuggle it into the facility.

However he was unable to retrieve it once he slipped past them, and eventually mistakenly believed that he had accidentally swallowed it.

Over the next two decades the balloon developed into a rhinolith, a stone in the nasal cavity formed as calcium and magnesium salts slowly built up around the rubber.

This caused the patient regular sinus infections and frequent complaints about nasal obstructions, but it wasn't until these developed into painful headaches that he sought treatment.

Jules wrote:Disgusting man. Blocked sinuses become smelly and he had 18yrs of that.

Here's a radical thought - avoid drugs!!!!

Ben Reilly wrote:

Jules wrote:Disgusting man. Blocked sinuses become smelly and he had 18yrs of that.

Here's a radical thought - avoid drugs!!!!

It's just a little weed, nothing to condemn him or anybody else over. What he *should* have avoided was shoving it up his nose!

eddie wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

It's just a little weed, nothing to condemn him or anybody else over. What he *should* have avoided was shoving it up his nose!

Yeah. Where does this thought come from “avoid drugs”....why?



Sugar is a drug.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Jules wrote:Disgusting man. Blocked sinuses become smelly and he had 18yrs of that.

Here's a radical thought - avoid drugs!!!!

It's just a little weed, nothing to condemn him or anybody else over. What he *should* have avoided was shoving it up his nose!

eddie wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

It's just a little weed, nothing to condemn him or anybody else over. What he *should* have avoided was shoving it up his nose!

Yeah. Where does this thought come from “avoid drugs”....why?

Sugar is a drug.

Jules wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

It's just a little weed, nothing to condemn him or anybody else over. What he *should* have avoided was shoving it up his nose!

We have to agree to disagree here.

I have zero tolerance to all drugs - even a little weed.
I never judge anyone on forums. And I don't force my beliefs on anyone, hence why you were not aware of my zero tolerance beliefs before now.

Soft drugs are not always harmless, they can cause mental illness. And they can be gateway drugs imo which lead to worse things.

(The comment regarding the smell was that chronic sinusitis is one of those medical afflictions that have a signature odour.  The very word repulses me.)