33 people collapse in the street at the same time after smoking synthetic marijuana K2

Richard Hartley-Parkinson 

33 people had to be taken to hospital (Picture: L Foehrenbach)

More than 30 people had to be taken to hospital in New York after a mass-overdose of synthetic marijuana, police have said.

They collapsed or were barely able to walk in the same neighbourhood of Brooklyn after smoking K2.

Witnesses reported seeing victims lying on the pavement, shaking and leaning against trees and fire hydrants.

In total 33 people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. It was not immediately clear what drugs the victims had ingested, but police said some of the victims had been smoking K2, also known as synthetic marijuana.

Dennis Gonzalez, of Bushwick, told WNBC-TV that K2 use in that part of Brooklyn was out of control.

Theyre believed to have taken K2, synthetic marijuana (Picture: L Foehrenbach)

The use of K2 in the area has been described as being ‘out of control’ (Picture: L Foehrenbach)

‘It’s gotten out of hand,’ he said. ‘They even sleep in the street, we have to walk around them. It’s just too much to keep under control.’

The Health Department said it ‘recorded a spike in K2-related emergency room visits’ connected to the incident in Brooklyn. The department said it was investigating and monitoring casualty departments across the city.

‘We remind New Yorkers that K2 is extremely dangerous,’ the Health Department said.

‘The city’s public awareness efforts and aggressive enforcement actions over the past year have contributed to a significant decline in ER visits related to K2.’

They collapsed about 15 minutes after taking the drug (Picture: L Foehrenbach)

There’s a growing problem for people in Brooklyn (Picture: L Foehrenbach)

Although K2 affects the same area of the brain as marijuana, it contains chemicals made in laboratories and sprayed on to dry leaves. These chemicals are not derived from the marijuana plant, according to the Health Department.

K2 can cause extreme anxiety, confusion, paranoia, hallucinations, rapid heart rate, vomiting, fainting, kidney failure and reduced blood supply to the heart.

The production and sale of the drug was outlawed in New York City last October.

What is K2, or synthetic marijuana?

Synthetic marijuana – or to give it its proper name, synthetic cannabinoids – is a chemical-based designer drug created to mimic the effects of cannabis.

More specifically, it is to mimic the cannabinoid element of marijuana – such as THC.

The chemicals are sprayed or soaked into a base material, often plant-based, and sold for recreational use in head shops, convenience stores or online at less than the cost of real marijuana
A UK ban on legal highs – including Spice and similar synthetic cannabinoids – was imposed earlier this year (here’s everything you need to know about the ban of legal highs).

One of the first on the market was Spice, but more brand names – including K2 – have followed. See also: Yucatan Fire, Bliss, Blaze and fake weed, among others.

Synthetic marijuana can come with dangerous or unpleasant side-effects including vomiting, hallucinations, paranoia, seizures, cardiac problems, kidney damage, brain damage and death.

The effects can be much more severe than with natural marijuana because of the way the chemicals act in the brain and the dose in which they are taken.

The chemicals act in a more potent way than natural THC and bind to the brain cells more completely and the dose can be up to 100 times stronger.

A ‘bad trip’ from natural marijuana is relatively rare and passes more quickly when compared to a ‘bad trip’ caused by synthetic marijuana. A bad synthetic marijuana trip looks more like an amphetamine trip – the user can become ‘angry, sweaty and agitated’, according to Lewis Nelson MD from NYU’s Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Medical Toxicology, speaking to Forbes.