Legal Drugs being abused by Kids

Synthetic ‘legal’ drugs being abused by kids (05/15/2011) By Sarah Elmquist

They call them plant food, bath salts, super coke, K2 and SPICE, tags for a new array of synthetic drugs that have taken hold of Winona’s youth. As lawmakers, public health officials, and police scramble to put regulations in place that will classify these compounds as illegal, Winona Health is reporting seeing an average of six synthetic drug overdose cases a week, and local experts say they’ve seen kids as young as 13 and 14 try them out.But for a drug like plant food, also called mephedrone, trying it once can mean a big battle ahead for young people, as experts are showing the drug can be highly addictive, and highly dangerous. And it’s apparent that Winona is having a bigger problem with kids using plant food than other communities in the region, including in La Crosse, where chemical dependency counselors say many kids don’t even know what the drug is. Here in Winona, just about every kid seems to know about plant food, said Todd Hoffe, Hiawatha Valley Mental Health counselor. As younger and younger children are trying the drug, and more and more people are ending up in the emergency room, the situation is becoming more dire, he said. “I’m afraid that we could have some kids dying of this stuff,” he said. Plant food produces effects similar to methamphetamine, but also shows some of the symptoms found in opiates like heroin, Hoffe said, including the potential for brain bleeding, abnormal constriction of blood vessels, inflammation of blood vessels, seizures and even comas. The drug can also produce hallucinations and extreme paranoia, meaning those who use the drug can present a danger to themselves. As plant food is currently legal, law enforcement officials have found themselves repeatedly responding to frantic 911 calls from those having adverse and paranoid reactions to plant food, having to weigh whether the user may be a danger to themselves, and whether they need to be sent to the hospital for treatment. “The calls are coming in and they’re continual,” said Winona Police Community Liaison Kevin Kearney. “They’re typically overdose related, to where they’re hallucinating and they’re so paranoid that they’re making it sound like people are climbing in their windows to come after them.” Police have often found themselves jumping to respond to a high-priority call with lights and sirens, finding a person who has become so paranoid they want officers to look under their bed, they want to spend the night in a squad car for protection, or even, that werewolves are out to get them. Plant food can be smoked or snorted, and some kids are even injecting it into their veins. Although legislation is pending that would render it illegal in Minnesota, today it is marketed literally as “plant food,” with labels indicating it’s “not for human consumption,” often with psychedelic packaging offering a wink-wink to let a person know it is really a drug. Another synthetic drug known as bath salts is marketed in a similar fashion, although officials say they haven’t seen much of it in Winona thus far. And the synthetic marijuana product known as K2 or SPICE is often packaged and advertised as though it were incense. Plant food has become one of the biggest causes of emergency room visits due to synthetic drugs, with hospital officials showing a dramatic rise in such cases in recent months. “This is a fairly new phenomenon in our [Emergency Department],” said Rebecca Lamberty, Administrative Director of Emergency and Urgent Care Services at Winona Health. “Over the last nine months, this issue has skyrocketed.” Hoffe said that those who use plant food can become extremely manic, moody, sensitive and paranoid. “It just changes their personality so much,” he said. “It happens so fast. One of the things kids are telling me is that even after the first time you use it, you want to use it again.” When asked if the drug is considered very addictive, Hoffe doesn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.” With legislation attempting to catch pace with the rise of this and other synthetic drugs, officials are hoping that a community forum, and other outreach efforts, will help parents and the community become more aware about the dangers, and what they can do to help. “Parents need to get educated, first,” said Hoffe. “I do think that everybody needs to be talking about this, in schools and in homes and with coaches. I’m going to talk to anybody who will listen.” New legislation Senator Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) has offered an amendment to the Senate Omnibus Drug bill that would make plant food, or mephedrone, illegal. The legislation would make the drug a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning it is considered a drug with a high potential for abuse and includes no accepted medical use. Penalties for possession or sale would be similar to other drugs in this class, and could include felony charges. The amendment was passed with a vote of 65-0. Following the governor’s signature, the bill will become effective August 1, 2011. The bill would also make it illegal to possess or sell the artificial marijuana drugs known as K2 and SPICE, and would add other synthetic drugs known as 2C-E and 2C-1 to the list of Schedule 1 controlled substances. Kearney said the legislation will help law enforcement officials in addressing synthetic drug abuse. The problem, however, is that with synthetic drugs, once a particular chemical or compound is deemed illegal, it’s often altered just enough to be considered a different substance altogether, then re-marketed. Officials say the use of these kinds of substances have to be closely monitored to keep laws current. “It’s a great step forward,” said Kearney of the pending drug bill.

Copyright © 2011, Winona Post, All Rights Reserved.

Synthetic Drugs Send Thousands to Hospital

 Synthetic substances that mimic marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs are making users across the nation seriously ill.

 

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) – Until he tried a marijuana look-alike product called “K2,” David Rozga’s most dubious decision was getting a Green Bay Packers tattoo on his shoulder. Then the 18-year-old athlete and band standout got high on the fake pot last June and complained to a friend “that he felt like he was in hell,” his father said.Though he had never suffered from depression, the teenager went home, found a shotgun and killed himself — one of at least nine U.S. deaths in the last year that authorities suspect were caused by synthetic products designed to mimic marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs. An Associated Press analysis shows that the substances are increasingly causing users to fall seriously ill, with some suffering seizures and hallucinations.Available in many head shops for as little as $10, the synthetic drugs are often packaged as incense or bath salts, but they do nothing to perfume the air or soften water.

 

As more Americans experiment with them, the results are becoming evident at hospitals: a sharp spike in the number of users who show up with problems ranging from labored breathing and rapid heartbeats to extreme paranoia and delusions. The symptoms can persist for days.”These kids weren’t looking for anything bad to happen,” Mike Rozga said of his son’s death. “The truth is they didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into.”At the request of the AP, the American Association of Poison Control Centers analyzed nationwide figures on calls related to synthetic drugs. The findings showed an alarming increase in the number of people seeking medical attention.At least 2,700 people have fallen ill since January, compared with fewer than 3,200 cases in all of 2010. At that pace, medical emergencies related to synthetic drugs could go up nearly fivefold by the end of the year.”Many of the users describe extreme paranoia,” said Dr. Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center. “The recurring theme is monsters, demons and aliens. A lot of them had suicidal thoughts.”The recent surge in activity has not gone unnoticed by law enforcement and elected officials.The Drug Enforcement Administration recently used emergency powers to outlaw five chemicals found in synthetic pot, placing them in the same category as heroin and cocaine.

But manufacturers are quick to adapt, often cranking out new formulas that are only a single molecule apart from the illegal ones.On Wednesday, the Senate’s Caucus on International Narcotics Control held a hearing in Washington to discuss curbing the growth of synthetics.”This is a whole new method of trafficking,” testified Joseph T. Ranznazzisi, deputy assistant administrator in the DEA‘s office of diversion control. “We’ve never experienced this before, when the product is just on the shelf.”Rozga implored lawmakers to act swiftly to prevent more deaths: “We are not doing enough, and we are not moving quickly enough.”Recreational drugs created in the laboratory have been around at least since the middle of the 20th century, when LSD was first studied. But these latest examples emerged only a few years ago, starting in Europe.The products were typically made in China, India and other Asian nations and soon arrived in Britain and Germany, according to DEA spokesman Rusty Payne.In the United States, fake marijuana was last year’s big seller, marketed under brands such as “K2″ or “Spice.” This year, the trend is “bath salts” with names like “Purple Wave” and “Bliss.”Besides being cheap and easily obtained, they do not show up in common drug tests.Synthetic marijuana typically involves dried plant material sprayed with one of several chemical compounds, most of which were created by a Clemson University scientist for research purposes in the 1990s. The compounds were never tested on humans.It’s packaged to look like pot, and users typically smoke it, but experts say the high is more comparable to cocaine or LSD.The bath salts are crystalized chemicals that are snorted, swallowed or smoked. They contain two powerful stimulants: methylenedioxypyrovalerone (or MDPV) and mephedrone, which mimic cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine.

So far in 2011, poison control centers have received nearly 1,300 calls about synthetic pot, compared with 2,874 calls for all of last year, according to the poison control center data.Poison calls for bath salts rose at an even greater rate. The centers took 301 calls in all of 2010, but had more than 1,400 for the first three months of 2011. Most of the calls came from doctors and nurses reporting patients in emergency rooms.”The problem is really exploding here,” said Dr. Elizabeth Scharman, director of the West Virginia Poison Center. Her state had three cases of bath-salt poisoning in December.”We’ve had 131 cases since Jan. 1,” and one-third of those were within the past two weeks, she said late last month. A law banning bath salts and synthetic marijuana was signed Tuesday by acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.Physicians generally treat the overdoses with anti-anxiety medication such as Valium and Xanax, which ease the frenetic, drug-fueled activity in the brain and body.”They cut back on the hallucinations, slow the heart rate, lower the blood pressure. It can take large doses. It can take repeated doses,” Scharman said.In some patients, symptoms can last for days.”One described it as like being on cocaine, but 10 times worse,” said Anna Rouse Dulaney of the Carolinas Poison Center in CharlotteDEA agent Gary Boggs said users assume that the products are safe because they are available in stores, even though they are typically labeled “not for human consumption.”"These products are in an unregulated, unlicensed industry,” Boggs said. “No one knows the strength of the ingredients. You don’t know what you’re taking.”

In addition to the DEA’s recently adopted ban, a federal law allows for prosecution of “analogue” drugs that mimic the effects of illegal substances.But authorities acknowledge the challenge of stopping the drugs’ spread. DEA experts are evaluating as many as 50 new synthetics.”The possibilities are endless,” Boggs said. “There’s probably hundreds of formulations out there.”At least 20 states have banned chemicals found in fake marijuana, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures compiled for the AP. Most others have legislation pending.At least nine states have banned substances found in bath salts, and 25 have laws in the works.Lawmakers know they’re fighting an uphill battle.”These chemists are pretty sophisticated and creative and are going to stay one step ahead of us, I’m afraid,” said Kentucky state Rep. John Tilley, a Democrat who sponsored his state’s ban on drug-infused bath salts.Some head shop owners see all the alarm as an overreaction.In Des Moines, near Drake University, the Day Dreams shop has found the synthetic marijuana “Spice” to be a proven money-maker. Along with incense, hippie clothing and drug paraphernalia, the store has sold thousands of packets of the crumbly, brownish-green leaves. Many of the packages are displayed behind the counter as a safeguard against shoplifting.Contrary to DEA claims that the product is most popular among teens and college-age customers, co-owner Kathy Fiedler said two-thirds of her buyers are middle-aged.”I even have grandmothers coming in,” said Fiedler, 56.If Iowa lawmakers adopt a ban, she said, they risk opening the door to shady backroom chemists crafting far more dangerous things.Reports of misuse are widespread.In Kentucky, authorities say a young woman driving on a highway after using bath salts became convinced her 2-year-old was a demon. She allegedly stopped the car and dropped the child on his head. He survived and was taken from his mother’s custody.A Hawaii man pleaded guilty to attacking his girlfriend and trying to throw her off an 11th-floor balcony while high on “Spice.”In January, a Fulton, Miss., man who hallucinated after taking bath salts used a hunting knife to slit his face and stomach.And in March, a 19-year-old man named Trevor Robinson-Davis died in suburban Minneapolis after overdosing at a party on a synthetic drug called 2C-E, a “cousin” to a banned rave-party drug. Ten others at the party became ill.Back in Indianola, David Rozga’s parents said their son had been active in his church and was preparing to start college in the fall. He loved the Green Bay Packers so much he had Brett Favre‘s No. 4 tattooed on his shoulder.”We said at the time, ‘If this was the worst thing he ever did, we did a pretty good job.’ Unfortunately, it wasn’t,” Mike Rozga said.Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, introduced a measure bearing the younger Rozga’s name that would permanently ban five chemicals used in synthetic marijuana products.Jan Rozga hopes the law will be her son’s legacy.”I did not stop being David’s mother when he died,” she said. “I still feel very protective over him, what happened to him, and I want to right that wrong for him.”