From January to May of this year, 15 people have
died from using synthetic cannabinoids, a threefold increase from that
period in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
said in a report issued Thursday.
The number of calls to poison centers about the substances has also
skyrocketed in the past year, confirming the federal government’s view
that this is a growing public health threat that needs to be stamped
out.
Synthetic cannabinoids are man-made psychoactive chemicals
sprayed on plant material, which is then cut and smoked or eaten. They
are alternately referred to and sold as synthetic marijuana, spice, K2,
black mamba or crazy clown, according to the CDC report. New types of
synthetics are constantly hitting the market, available online and in head shops, making it difficult for the government to outlaw them one by one.
From January to May, poison centers in the United States
reported 3,572 calls related to synthetic cannabinoid use, according to
the CDC. That’s 229 percent more than the number for that period last
year. The majority of calls were for men (80.7 percent), and the median
user age (when age was recorded) was 26. (It ranged from 7 to 72.) The
15 deaths related to synthetics in that period compares with five over
the same five months in 2014.
Users may experience a high that is said to be comparable
to the one from smoking marijuana. Side effects reported to poison
centers included agitation, rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, vomiting and
confusion.
In addition to calls to poison centers, synthetic
cannabinoid-related emergency department visits have risen in recent
years, from 11,407 in 2010 to 28,531 in 2011 (the most recent year for
which there are data), according to a 2014 report by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
“They are marketed in a way that frankly does not portray
how dangerous they are,” says Donna Bush, a forensic toxicology
specialist at SAMHSA, adding that they can be found at convenience
stores and gas stations.
“These synthetic cannabinoids were originally designed as
research chemicals for use in the laboratory, trying to identify
cannabinoid receptors in the brain,” Bush says, not “to be used on the
street.” And while the synthetics can in some cases mimic the
intoxication experienced when using marijuana, they can
also—unexpectedly—be more powerful and last longer.
“You never know what you’re getting. Every little bag,
every little package can be different because there’s no
standardization, there’s no quality control. These are all products made
on the fly,” Bush says.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has identified hundreds
of synthetic substances in recent years. More than 17,000 synthetic
cannabinoid-related reports were filed to the DEA’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System in 2013, compared with just 469 in 2010.
A 2012 government survey found that
1 in 9 high school seniors in the U.S. had used synthetic cannabinoids,
the second-most commonly used illegal drug for that age group, behind
marijuana. That year, President Barack Obama signed into law the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act, which increases penalties for a number of synthetic cannabinoid types.
A type of synthetic cannabinoid called AB Fubinaca was found in the drug known as Molly earlier this year, when students at Wesleyan University were hospitalized.
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