Hallucinogenic bath salts soon may be given the boot in Maryland.
The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has started a monthlong investigation into the synthetic recreational drug as it tries to discover how prevalent use of the hallucinogenic chemicals is in the state.
“This is something that’s been a big problem throughout the country. We’re trying to get ahead of the curve
By STEVEN REILLY
sreilly@njherald.com
NEWTON That honeyed smell entrance from your teenagers’ room might not be strawberries. It could be K2 incense. And it could kill them.
K2 incense; also famous as Spice or G-Four; is an scent product that contains criminialized sovereign Drug Enforcement Administration Schedule-1 fake cannabinoids done to impersonate a effects of a pot “high.” The drug’s honeyed smell has been likened to strawberries.
The product is sole over a opposite during internal preference stores as scent to any chairman with $30. Unlike tobacco products or alcohol, there is no age limitation on a squeeze of K2 incense in New Jersey. Traditional drug tests do not detect K2 incense; an additional screening routine is used to detect a fake drug.
K2 incense resembles dusty spices or oregano and comes in a accumulation of sizes and scented flavors finished in tiny cosmetic tubes or foil bags. The product can be smoked in pipes, water pipes or rolling papers, like marijuana, and a mixture are not regulated.
Teens are getting high on an emerging drug called “fake weed,” a concoction also known as K2 incense and “spice” that is also causing hallucinations, vomiting, agitation and other dangerous effects.
In the last month, Dr. Anthony Scalzo, a professor of toxicology at Saint Louis University, has seen nearly 30 cases of teenagers experiencing these adverse effects after smoking the fake weed, a legal substance that reportedly offers a marijuana-like high.
“K2 incense use is not limited to the Midwest; reports of its use are cropping up all over the country,” Scalzo said. “I think K2 is likely a bigger problem than we’re aware of at this time.” For instance, Atlanta has seen about 12 cases recently.