JOINTS AND FORMALDEHYDE - A WICKED, POTENT COMBO

The practice of dipping marijuana cigarettes in embalming fluid has been
around for years.

But some experts say the potent combination is becoming more of a problem
in Hudson County and in Newark, where it figured in a shootout Sunday night
that left one user dead, one wounded and one other person injured.

A friend told police that he and 20-year-old Ibn Berger had been smoking
joints laced with formaldehyde shortly before Berger began shooting people
in the Seth Boyden housing complex in Newark. Berger then shot at two cops
before being shot and killed himself.

Known on the street by numerous nicknames including "illy," "leek," "crazy
Eddie," "wet," "amp" and "purple rain," the formaldehyde-laced marijuana,
sometimes with PCP added as well, has been a problem for years, Hudson
County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

"It has been a recognized drug problem in Hudson County for a number of
years," he said. "PCP/formaldehyde-treated marijuana is extremely potent
and causes people in some cases to react in extraordinarily aberrant or
violent ways."

DeFazio cited the case of William Marable, who admitted smoking marijuana
laced with PCP before walking into the West District police precinct in
1999 and attacking desk officer Joe Kelly. He took Kelly's gun and shot Lt.
Patrick Robinson, and then was shot by Sgt. Ed Carattini.

During his court appearance, Marable said he had smoked dipped marijuana
and then had no memory of what happened next. He was sentenced to 15 years
in prison after pleading guilty to charges of assault and aggravated assault.

Such violence is typical of users of the chemical-laced pot, according to
David Kerr, director of Integrity House, a Newark drug treatment center.

"It just whacks their brains out," he said. "They're smoking pot, and they
dip it and they go berserk."

Integrity House admitted 69 patients who used the drug combination last
year, up from 40 in 2003, Kerr said, and has recently seen an influx of
patients from Hudson County looking for treatment.

Users can become paranoid and experience hallucinations, experts say.

"They scream, shout, become violent," Kerr said. "It's very unpredictable.
This is very insidious because these are people who are not too centered
anyway."

Michaelangelo Conte and the Associated Press contributed to this report.