News (Media Awareness Project) - US DE: Delaware on Alert After Marijuana Substitute Sickens Three |
| Title: | US DE: Delaware on Alert After Marijuana Substitute Sickens Three |
| Published On: | 2010-03-17 |
| Source: | News Journal, The (Wilmington, DE) |
| Fetched On: | 2010-04-02 02:55:20 |
DELAWARE ON ALERT AFTER MARIJUANA SUBSTITUTE SICKENS THREE
Controversial -- but Legal -- Product Not Widely Known in State
Three Seaford residents were taken to the hospital over the weekend
after smoking an herbal marijuana substitute, prompting police to
issue a warning about the relatively new substance that has cropped up
in the state.
Sold commercially as an incense or potpourri under the names K2 or
Spice -- Blaze, Red X Dawn, Zohai, Gemini, Yucatan Fire -- it is
marketed as an herbal product and labeled "not for
consumption."
It generally is sold in head shops as well as tobacco and convenience
stores and on the Internet. When smoked, it gives the user a
marijuana-like high, experts said.
"While the herbs may be natural, the chemicals they are spraying them
with are certainly not," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the
Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. "That's
the danger. It's different chemicals and different levels of toxicity.
Just because something is an herbal product doesn't mean it's not harmful."
She also said it is four times more potent than marijuana.
Two Seaford men and a woman suffered the short-term effects of the
substance, which include increased heart rate, loss of consciousness,
paranoia, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. Less is known about
K2's long-term side effects.
Police and paramedics were called about 7 p.m. Saturday to the 200
block of Arch Street for apparent drug overdoses, said Seaford police
Capt. Gary Flood.
They arrived to find the 24- and 22-year-old men and 18-year-old woman
experiencing trouble breathing and elevated heart rates. They also
lacked motor skills and were vomiting. They bought the marijuana
subsitute over the Internet.
"These kids were very, very sick," Flood said.
They were treated at the scene by Sussex County paramedics and taken
to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, where two were treated and released
while the 22-year-old man was admitted, Flood said.
"It really could have been bad," said Flood. "Fortunately, Nanticoke
Hospital had received a health alert advisory from the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services, so the staff knew how to
treat them."
Three Seaford residents were taken to the hospital over the weekend
after smoking an herbal marijuana substitute, prompting police to
issue a warning about the relatively new substance that has cropped up
in the state.
Sold commercially as an incense or potpourri under the names K2 or
Spice -- Blaze, Red X Dawn, Zohai, Gemini, Yucatan Fire -- it is
marketed as an herbal product and labeled "not for
consumption."
It generally is sold in head shops as well as tobacco and convenience
stores and on the Internet. When smoked, it gives the user a
marijuana-like high, experts said.
"While the herbs may be natural, the chemicals they are spraying them
with are certainly not," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the
Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. "That's
the danger. It's different chemicals and different levels of toxicity.
Just because something is an herbal product doesn't mean it's not harmful."
She also said it is four times more potent than marijuana.
Two Seaford men and a woman suffered the short-term effects of the
substance, which include increased heart rate, loss of consciousness,
paranoia, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. Less is known about
K2's long-term side effects.
Police and paramedics were called about 7 p.m. Saturday to the 200
block of Arch Street for apparent drug overdoses, said Seaford police
Capt. Gary Flood.
They arrived to find the 24- and 22-year-old men and 18-year-old woman
experiencing trouble breathing and elevated heart rates. They also
lacked motor skills and were vomiting. They bought the marijuana
subsitute over the Internet.
"These kids were very, very sick," Flood said.
They were treated at the scene by Sussex County paramedics and taken
to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, where two were treated and released
while the 22-year-old man was admitted, Flood said.
"It really could have been bad," said Flood. "Fortunately, Nanticoke
Hospital had received a health alert advisory from the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services, so the staff knew how to
treat them."
Dr. Steven Marcus of New Jersey Poison Information and Education
System issued a Feb. 22 advisory about the marijuana substitute being
reported in the Midwest and the influx of teens and young adults
showing up in hospital emergency rooms after smoking it. Symptoms
improved after 6 to 8 hours and they were discharged.
The health advisory followed a release earlier that week from U.S.
Customs and Border Protection in Philadelphia that said officers
seized two international mail parcels Jan. 6 containing a little more
than an ounce of the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 that was shipped
from Amsterdam.
JWH-018 and similar cannabinoid compounds sprayed on the plant
material are listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a "Drug
or Chemical of Concern." It is not considered a DEA Schedule 1
narcotic, such as illegally used prescription drugs.
Fay said JWH-018 and JWH-073 are chemicals produced in China and are
not regulated in the United States. They are sprayed on the K2 to give
it its potency.
Since Dec. 9, U.S. Customs officers have confiscated about 85 parcels,
weighing a combined four pounds, four ounces, said Steve Sapp of the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
It was the first time this substance surfaced in the Philadelphia
region, he said.
In the wake of Saturday's incident, law enforcement have been alerted
about the substance's emergence in the state.
The state Division of Public Health does not release health alerts
concerning drugs to the public, said agency spokes-woman Heidi
Truschel Light.
"As events unfolded over the weekend, state police were made aware of
the situation in Seaford," said Senior Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh. "Although
we don't currently have reports of such instances in our area, we are
asking people with information concerning the situation to call their
local police agency or Delaware Crime Stoppers."
While the substance is not considered illegal in the state, it is
cause for concern, Whitmarsh said.
"If people are being made sick by it, it's the equivalent of a tainted
food product," he said. "We would treat it just as we would a tainted
food product and we have to prevent it from being placed in the hands
of the people being made ill."
The local DEA also is investigating, Flood said.
Fay said the sale of such substances is banned in Great Britain,
Germany, Poland, France, South Korea and Russia. Missouri and Kansas
also have taken steps to ban it.
Controversial -- but Legal -- Product Not Widely Known in State
Three Seaford residents were taken to the hospital over the weekend
after smoking an herbal marijuana substitute, prompting police to
issue a warning about the relatively new substance that has cropped up
in the state.
Sold commercially as an incense or potpourri under the names K2 or
Spice -- Blaze, Red X Dawn, Zohai, Gemini, Yucatan Fire -- it is
marketed as an herbal product and labeled "not for
consumption."
It generally is sold in head shops as well as tobacco and convenience
stores and on the Internet. When smoked, it gives the user a
marijuana-like high, experts said.
"While the herbs may be natural, the chemicals they are spraying them
with are certainly not," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the
Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. "That's
the danger. It's different chemicals and different levels of toxicity.
Just because something is an herbal product doesn't mean it's not harmful."
She also said it is four times more potent than marijuana.
Two Seaford men and a woman suffered the short-term effects of the
substance, which include increased heart rate, loss of consciousness,
paranoia, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. Less is known about
K2's long-term side effects.
Police and paramedics were called about 7 p.m. Saturday to the 200
block of Arch Street for apparent drug overdoses, said Seaford police
Capt. Gary Flood.
They arrived to find the 24- and 22-year-old men and 18-year-old woman
experiencing trouble breathing and elevated heart rates. They also
lacked motor skills and were vomiting. They bought the marijuana
subsitute over the Internet.
"These kids were very, very sick," Flood said.
They were treated at the scene by Sussex County paramedics and taken
to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, where two were treated and released
while the 22-year-old man was admitted, Flood said.
"It really could have been bad," said Flood. "Fortunately, Nanticoke
Hospital had received a health alert advisory from the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services, so the staff knew how to
treat them."
Three Seaford residents were taken to the hospital over the weekend
after smoking an herbal marijuana substitute, prompting police to
issue a warning about the relatively new substance that has cropped up
in the state.
Sold commercially as an incense or potpourri under the names K2 or
Spice -- Blaze, Red X Dawn, Zohai, Gemini, Yucatan Fire -- it is
marketed as an herbal product and labeled "not for
consumption."
It generally is sold in head shops as well as tobacco and convenience
stores and on the Internet. When smoked, it gives the user a
marijuana-like high, experts said.
"While the herbs may be natural, the chemicals they are spraying them
with are certainly not," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the
Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. "That's
the danger. It's different chemicals and different levels of toxicity.
Just because something is an herbal product doesn't mean it's not harmful."
She also said it is four times more potent than marijuana.
Two Seaford men and a woman suffered the short-term effects of the
substance, which include increased heart rate, loss of consciousness,
paranoia, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. Less is known about
K2's long-term side effects.
Police and paramedics were called about 7 p.m. Saturday to the 200
block of Arch Street for apparent drug overdoses, said Seaford police
Capt. Gary Flood.
They arrived to find the 24- and 22-year-old men and 18-year-old woman
experiencing trouble breathing and elevated heart rates. They also
lacked motor skills and were vomiting. They bought the marijuana
subsitute over the Internet.
"These kids were very, very sick," Flood said.
They were treated at the scene by Sussex County paramedics and taken
to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, where two were treated and released
while the 22-year-old man was admitted, Flood said.
"It really could have been bad," said Flood. "Fortunately, Nanticoke
Hospital had received a health alert advisory from the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services, so the staff knew how to
treat them."
Dr. Steven Marcus of New Jersey Poison Information and Education
System issued a Feb. 22 advisory about the marijuana substitute being
reported in the Midwest and the influx of teens and young adults
showing up in hospital emergency rooms after smoking it. Symptoms
improved after 6 to 8 hours and they were discharged.
The health advisory followed a release earlier that week from U.S.
Customs and Border Protection in Philadelphia that said officers
seized two international mail parcels Jan. 6 containing a little more
than an ounce of the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 that was shipped
from Amsterdam.
JWH-018 and similar cannabinoid compounds sprayed on the plant
material are listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a "Drug
or Chemical of Concern." It is not considered a DEA Schedule 1
narcotic, such as illegally used prescription drugs.
Fay said JWH-018 and JWH-073 are chemicals produced in China and are
not regulated in the United States. They are sprayed on the K2 to give
it its potency.
Since Dec. 9, U.S. Customs officers have confiscated about 85 parcels,
weighing a combined four pounds, four ounces, said Steve Sapp of the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
It was the first time this substance surfaced in the Philadelphia
region, he said.
In the wake of Saturday's incident, law enforcement have been alerted
about the substance's emergence in the state.
The state Division of Public Health does not release health alerts
concerning drugs to the public, said agency spokes-woman Heidi
Truschel Light.
"As events unfolded over the weekend, state police were made aware of
the situation in Seaford," said Senior Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh. "Although
we don't currently have reports of such instances in our area, we are
asking people with information concerning the situation to call their
local police agency or Delaware Crime Stoppers."
While the substance is not considered illegal in the state, it is
cause for concern, Whitmarsh said.
"If people are being made sick by it, it's the equivalent of a tainted
food product," he said. "We would treat it just as we would a tainted
food product and we have to prevent it from being placed in the hands
of the people being made ill."
The local DEA also is investigating, Flood said.
Fay said the sale of such substances is banned in Great Britain,
Germany, Poland, France, South Korea and Russia. Missouri and Kansas
also have taken steps to ban it.
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