Pubdate: Tue, 01 May 2012
Source: Morning Sun (Mt. Pleasant, MI)
Copyright: 2012 Morning Sun
Contact:   http://www.themorningsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3938
Author: Susan Field

'Spice' Makes You Crazy, Stupid

SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA IS DANGEROUS, OFFICIALS SAY

Deb Derry knows too many teens who have tried "spice" and regretted it.

Derry, a counselor at Mt. Pleasant High School and Oasis Alternative 
High School, knows one student who smoked synthetic marijuana three 
to five times a week and went into a psychotic episode. Another 
student used the drug once and won't do it again.

Still another smoked the legal drug that is labeled as incense or 
potpourri and not for human consumption, became addicted to the 
"bizarre" high and now needs to take Xanax, Ativan or another 
prescription drug to feel normal. That student overdosed on the 
prescription trying to "get down" from the high obtained by smoking spice.

During a presentation at the Isabella County Trial Court, Derry told 
a group of students and parents that spice, a drug that appears to 
stay legal by manufacturers which slightly alter the chemical 
components as quickly as they are banned, that spice affects the 
frontal lobe of the human brain, which separates people from animals.

Spice, which is available at convenience stores and gasoline 
stations, affects the frontal lobe, Derry said.

Derry spoke of a fourth student, who started smoking synthetic 
marijuana about a month ago, who gave a sexual favor in exchange for 
$12 to get more of the drug.

"Not a pleasant scenario," Derry said.

During the presentation, a teen who was addicted to the drug spoke as 
well, telling students, parents, Judge William Ervin, Mt. Pleasant 
Police Youth Services Officer Dave Sabuda, a juvenile probation 
officer, an attorney and others that the high she got on synthetic 
marijuana "just brings you someplace else."

"It's not a good trip," she said. "It's a bad hallucination." At one 
point, she said, she was looking at peoples' faces and they changed 
before her eyes.

"I thought I was going to die," she said. "I thought I was in hell."

Current research into the drug includes information about a case in 
Seattle in which a man murdered his girlfriend while high on 
synthetic marijuana, Derry said.

Lawmakers are banning components used in making the drug, but 
manufacturers are replacing those substances with slightly different 
chemicals faster than the government can stop them, officials said. 
Compounds are changed just enough to get around the Food and Drug 
Administration, officials said.

Five chemicals have been banned so far, officials said. But teens are 
still abusing the drug.

One was at a birthday party, Derry said, and was persuaded by another 
to try synthetic marijuana. After smoking the drug, the teen fell 
into a "zombie" state, being unable to move, she said.

However, that teen could hear perfectly, and listened to friends talk 
about being afraid to call for an ambulance. One friend reached into 
the teen's pocket and took money, Derry said.

Another teen who was unable to move after smoking the drug recalled 
friends talking about how to get rid of her body , deciding to 
dispose of it in a river. Those friends did not realize that the teen 
was alive, Sabuda said.

Derry said she knows three people with what is likely going to be 
permanent cognitive damage from smoking synthetic marijuana.

Other users have describe the high as like being in a video game, 
Sabuda said. One case involved a man who thought he was in "Grand 
Theft Auto," he said.

Paul Marsh, a juvenile probation officer in Isabella County, told 
students at the presentation that smoking synthetic marijuana is like 
being kicked in the head by a horse. Marsh also said he's seen users 
lose as many as 27 intelligence quotient points from fifth grade to 
ninth grade.

"That can be the difference between becoming a doctor of changing 
tires," Marsh said. Sabuda said the drug is not regulated, is easily 
available and is "messing people up and there's nothing we can do about it."

Ervin said synthetic marijuana is made up of toxic substances.

"You don't know what you're putting in your body," he said, adding 
that the effects can be deadly if a user is taking another 
prescription drug while smoking, even if the prescription is legitimate.

As a police officer, Sabuda said, he's seen it all. It's important 
for teens to know that they don't know how the drug will affect them.

"You don't know what you're taking," he said. "The components change.

"Our emergency room doesn't know what to do with an overdose."

With other drugs, including heroin and cocaine, there are treatments, 
Sabuda said.

Those who overdose or have bad reactions to synthetic marijuana can 
have body temperatures higher than 105 degrees, anxiety and rapid 
heart rate, Sabuda said.

When someone overdoses, the worst thing to do is try to hide it, Sabuda said.

"They need help, and you're probably going to get in trouble," he 
said. "Be smart.

"Look out for your friends and acquaintances."
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