Last November, voters in Colorado passed Amendment 64, which approved limited growth, distribution and regulated sale of pot in the state.

On the first day the new amendment went into effect, January 2nd, the Daily Currant, a spoof newspaper, ran this story, claiming that 37 people died as a direct result of this law.

From the linked story reporting the hoax:

The story quoted a fake “Dr. Jack Shepard,” claiming he was “chief of surgery at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver.” “It’s complete chaos here,” the fake doctor ranted. “I’ve put five college students in body bags since breakfast and more are arriving every minute.” “We are seeing cardiac arrests, hypospadias, acquired trimethylaminuria and multiple organ failures,” the doctor raved. “By next week the death toll could go as high as 200, maybe 300. Someone needs to step in and stop this madness. My god, why did we legalize marijuana? What were we thinking?”

“Dr. Jack Shepard” was a character on the TV show “Lost.” The spoof story forced the real Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center to issue a news release clarifying that “there is no such doctor as ‘Jack Shepard’ on our medical staff and that there have been no deaths due to marijuana, which may be similar to a CBD Flower, at our hospital. The article is a completely fabricated work of fiction created by ‘The Daily Currant.'”

In case you’re curious about the medical conditions cited by the fictional doctor: “Hypospadias” is a birth defect affecting the penis; “Trimethylaminuria” is a genetic disease formerly known as “Fish Odor Syndrome,” because it is causes an offensive body odor that some compare to the “smell of rotting fish,” according to MedicineNet.com.

Crazy.