Hard_Rom
Northumbrian Skald
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2014
- Posts
- 13,623
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/k2-synthetic-pot-killing-addicts-1.3291134
K2 synthetic pot: New York targets drug that kills addicts
As Canada moves to legalize marijuana, a cheap copycat is proving fatal in U.S.
It's a familiar drug to Canadians in parts of northern Alberta as well. Oil workers have reportedly lit up the herbal narcotic for years in order to mimic the mind-altering effects of weed, without having to worry about failing urine tests designed to detect cannabis.
The chemical-herbal mixes are designed to reproduce the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
"I was addicted from that very first toke," Carmen Caldwell, a K2 addict and former oil-patch supervisor, told CBC Radio's The Current in October, speaking from Edmonton. "I could get high and still piss clean."
Unlike marijuana, K2 can cause seizures, vomiting, violent mood swings and organ damage. Due to manufacturers' ever-changing chemical recipes, its Canadian legal status remains hazy. The lethal drug, which resembles potpourri, involves psychoactive chemicals produced in China and sprayed on dried plant material.
"There are over 130 of these compounds and there are new ones appearing at a fairly rapid rate," Young said. "When people say it's 'legal,' people automatically assume it's gone through some kind of quality control. But some of these compounds aren't covered by existing legislation because how do you control something that is yet to exist?"
The Centers for Disease Control logged 3,572 calls across the U.S. related to synthetics in the first five months of this year, up 229 per cent from the same period last year. In April there was a spike of 15 deaths. Overdoses are especially high in New York state and New Jersey, where 22-year-old recovering K2 addict Zack Ellis lives.
"Each batch is different. Different chemicals, different products, different labels," he said from a rooming house in Dover, N.J. "Different flavours, too. I get mine as mango."
Ellis began smoking K2 around 2011, after he left the Jamesburg juvenile jail and wanted alternatives to weed so he could pass mandated urine tests. He quickly became addicted, and decided to seek treatment when he woke up in a hospital in July.
"I had took like three or four pulls, started getting dizzy and passed out on the concrete; cracked my nose," he said. "I realized if I keep doing this, I'm going to end up dead."
Ellis, who suffers from PTSD and bipolar disorder, now has a mental-health counsellor and has cut his K2 consumption to about two joints a week, down from as many as 11 a day.
He confesses that although K2 is sometimes all he thinks about all day, "I'm glad to see they're banning it."
"It will mess up your life. It messed up mine," he said. "I just hope I can stop."
K2 synthetic pot: New York targets drug that kills addicts
As Canada moves to legalize marijuana, a cheap copycat is proving fatal in U.S.
It's a familiar drug to Canadians in parts of northern Alberta as well. Oil workers have reportedly lit up the herbal narcotic for years in order to mimic the mind-altering effects of weed, without having to worry about failing urine tests designed to detect cannabis.
The chemical-herbal mixes are designed to reproduce the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
"I was addicted from that very first toke," Carmen Caldwell, a K2 addict and former oil-patch supervisor, told CBC Radio's The Current in October, speaking from Edmonton. "I could get high and still piss clean."
Unlike marijuana, K2 can cause seizures, vomiting, violent mood swings and organ damage. Due to manufacturers' ever-changing chemical recipes, its Canadian legal status remains hazy. The lethal drug, which resembles potpourri, involves psychoactive chemicals produced in China and sprayed on dried plant material.
"There are over 130 of these compounds and there are new ones appearing at a fairly rapid rate," Young said. "When people say it's 'legal,' people automatically assume it's gone through some kind of quality control. But some of these compounds aren't covered by existing legislation because how do you control something that is yet to exist?"
The Centers for Disease Control logged 3,572 calls across the U.S. related to synthetics in the first five months of this year, up 229 per cent from the same period last year. In April there was a spike of 15 deaths. Overdoses are especially high in New York state and New Jersey, where 22-year-old recovering K2 addict Zack Ellis lives.
"Each batch is different. Different chemicals, different products, different labels," he said from a rooming house in Dover, N.J. "Different flavours, too. I get mine as mango."
Ellis began smoking K2 around 2011, after he left the Jamesburg juvenile jail and wanted alternatives to weed so he could pass mandated urine tests. He quickly became addicted, and decided to seek treatment when he woke up in a hospital in July.
"I had took like three or four pulls, started getting dizzy and passed out on the concrete; cracked my nose," he said. "I realized if I keep doing this, I'm going to end up dead."
Ellis, who suffers from PTSD and bipolar disorder, now has a mental-health counsellor and has cut his K2 consumption to about two joints a week, down from as many as 11 a day.
He confesses that although K2 is sometimes all he thinks about all day, "I'm glad to see they're banning it."
"It will mess up your life. It messed up mine," he said. "I just hope I can stop."
