DEA WARNS PARENTS TO WATCH OUT FOR PRODUCTS LABELED 'INCENSE'

The Drug Enforcement Agency has a warning to parents -- if your child
wants to be buy some herbal incense, be aware they may be purchasing a
potentially harmful product.

Just like bath salts -- a phenomenon that has nothing to do with
scented bath water additives -- a product known as Mad Hatter incense
is being sold in central Ohio.

Instead of sticks designed to burn and emit fragrant scents, this
incense is a green leafy substance that can cause medical issues from
increased heart rates to hallucinations.

The incense is actually a form of synthetic marijuana. While the state
has taken steps to make it illegal, at the moment it is not.

On Friday, Gov. John Kasich signed into law House Bill 64 that makes
synthetic marijuana, commonly known as Spice or K2, illegal to sell or
possess by adding it to the list of Schedule I controlled substances.
The law goes into effect in October.

Pitfalls of use

Synthetic marijuana being marketed as incense can be purchased at
various convenience stores.

From a law enforcement standpoint, it hasn't caused many
issues.

From a medical point of view, it's use is already resulting in visits
to regional hospitals.

David Davis, registered nurse, who is director of the Emergency
Services and Trauma Unit for Genesis, said emergency personnel at the
hospitals have seen several cases in the past few months -- the latest
being Thursday night.

"Patients are coming in agitated, vomiting, in seizures, paranoid or
having hallucinations," Davis said. "The reactions are similar to
those when ingesting the bath salts that seem to be on the rise."

Bath salts have caused any number of medical problems in the
community. The state has banned them, too, but like with synthetic
marijuana, it will take time for the law to go into effect.

Mad Hatter comes in 3-gram, green packages, which are clearly marked
"not for human consumption," and it states the manufacturer is not
responsible for misuse. Yet people are ingesting and smoking the leafy
substance that costs about $25 a pack.

Dr. Marcel Casavant, of the Central Ohio Poison Control Center in
Columbus, said Ohio and the rest of the nation has seen an increase in
people having adverse reactions from the ingestion of the incense or
synthetic marijuana.

"It makes people crazy," Casavant said. "We've seen them come in our
emergency rooms agitated, their heart rates are spinning, they're
vomiting, having hallucinations. Sometimes it takes sedatives to calm
them down."

Casavant also knows of one case where a patient was in a
coma.

"We've not had any reported deaths, but I would say that this product
may kill you," Casavant said.

In 2010, there were 2,874 calls nationally to poison control centers
related to this synthetic marijuana. In Ohio there were 36 cases.
Through the end of May 2011, there were 2,052 cases reported
nationally and 26 in Ohio.

"We did see a decrease in cases at the end of last year, but they
jumped again in the past couple of months," Casavant said. "This is a
completely different substance than marijuana. We don't see the types
of effects from marijuana as we're seeing with this product. It's a
very, very serious and dangerous product."

Changing chemicals

The DEA has banned five chemicals -- JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH -200, CP47,
497 and cannabicyclohexanol -- that are used to make the incense. In
February the DEA made it illegal to sell or possess synthetic
marijuana with those particular chemicals for at least a year while
they study whether the chemicals used in the production should be
permanently controlled.

Yet the product continues as manufacturers change the chemicals
used.

Dawn Dearden, DEA spokeswoman, said one of the dangers of the product
is that the consumer has no idea what chemicals have been used.

"We do know the chemicals are not for human consumption," Dearden
said. "When people ingest this stuff, they have no clue how high it's
going to get them or what it really is going to do to them."

Dearden said the product is "very frightening."

"We are wanting to spread the word to parents that they should be very
aware of what their children are buying," Dearden said. "If there is a
child that is interested in buying herbal incense, that parent needs
to be paying close attention. The child or teen isn't going to be
burning incense."

By making laws that include myriad chemicals, officials hope to keep
future products from being manufactured.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Kasich, by signing House Bill
64, will help protect Ohio families by making this drug and other
designer drugs illegal.

"These drugs have devastating effects on those who use them," DeWine
said. "It puts local law enforcement in danger as well as when people
are under their influence."

DeWine said the new law will give local law enforcement and county
prosecutors the ability to go after products that are similar in
chemical structure to Schedule I or II drugs.