Synthetic Drugs, Real Issues

9/24/2012 (Updated 6:44:33 PM)

(Source: Jason Weinstein)

"That's why people who smoke like three hits of weed just feel high and people who smoke 3 hits of K2 feel like they're going to die."

The poster of this YouTube video is talking about K2 spice. It's a kind of synthetic drug, which along with other synthetics like bath salts were banned in New York state earlier this year. But makers of these drugs simply alter their chemistry to give the same effect but go nearly undetectable to authorities.

"Synthetic drugs are just that - synthetic, or man-made drugs. The law usually ends up being behind the 8-ball a little bit where they usually have to catch up," said Gary Bulinksi of Traffic Safety Research Incorporated.

In 2011, there were 39 reported emergency room visits in upstate New York as a result of bath salts.
By August of 2012, there were 191 such visits with 120 occurring this past June and July.

According to the New York State Poison Control Center, in 2010 there were only 20 calls concerning synthetic marijuana poisonings. There were 291 in 2011, and there were already 321 through the first six months of 2012.

"There most definitely has been a rise in it," said Broome County Emergency Medical Services Coordinator Raymond Serowik.

So if parents suspect their kids are using, what side effects should they look for?

"Hallucinations, agitation, perhaps dilated pupils, loss of appetite, acting abnormal outside the normal range, moodiness," said Bulinski.

"It ranges from very sedate behavior to very violent behavior, depending on the substances involved and the individual," said Serowick.

"You need to look everywhere. Whether it be a shirt pocket, they can put it in eyedroppers. We might not always see the pot pipe or the bong. Maybe they just have rolling papers. Maybe they have cigars or cigarettes and they just cut out the tobacco from that," said Bulinski.

For more information on synthetic drugs you can go to www.bcstopdwi.com.

****In Binghamton, Jason Weinstein, FOX 40 HD News.****

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