BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. —
The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit arrested a subject last week after locating synthetic cannabinoid in a local business.
Synthietic cannabinoid is best known by the brand name, K2, which mimics the effects of cannabis. This drug has been sold legally, often labeled as incense, bath salts or plant food until recently. As of June 1st 2011, the synthetic drug is now illegal in the State of North Carolina.
The synthetic drugs K2 incense and “bath salts” have been linked to suicides, murders or overdoses in several states including Maryland, Michigan – Marquette specifically – and West Virginia. And despite state and federal legislation outlawing synthetic marijuana, K2 products are still being sold at Tom’s Party Store and Washtenaw Liquor, two local Ypsilanti stores.
K2 incense, commonly known as “spice,” is synthetic marijuana made by spraying dried leaves or incense with chemical compounds similar to THC; bath salts are synthetic stimulants commonly containing the insecticide Mephedrone and MDPV – ingredients which have already been banned across the U.S. – and causes similar effect as amphetamines, cocaine, LSD and MDMA.
Manufacturers of the chemicals are bypassing strict U.S. federal standards by combining legal chemicals to make the drugs and labeling them with the disclaimer: “Not for human consumption.” This loophole is why the drugs are available in corner stores, shopping malls, head shops and on the Internet.
Since 2010, K2 has been responsible for more than 4,000 calls to poison control centers around the country and it was once reported that a 19-year-old man stabbed his 4-year-old neighbor’s pet goat while wearing women’s undergarments.
A local 16-year-old boy suffered a seizure after combining his medications with synthetic marijuana often called “K2 incense.” A woman in Kentucky high on “Plant Food” hallucinated that her two-year-old son was a demon, knocked him unconscious with a folding chair and then threw him onto the passing lane of a major highway. In Louisiana, a man seeing visions when using Plant Food opened a skinning knife and repeatedly slit his face and stomach, but he survived.
Here in Winona, addiction experts and law enforcement officials are worried that soon, the dramatic rise in synthetic drug use might claim the life of a young person, watching as local emergency rooms treat an average of six synthetic drug overdose cases a week, anxiously awaiting the July 1 date when many of the dangerous substances will officially become illegal. The legislation making the drugs known as plant food, bath salts, K2 incense and a list of other compounds will provide tools for law enforcement officials to help address the growing problems here in Winona. But with the new class of drugs marketed as plant food, bath salts, and incense widely available on the Internet, crossing the July 1 date off the calendar won’t make the problem go away.