When you’re a non-drug-using adult, it’s hard to understand why anyone, anywhere would ever use a drug as dangerous as Spice. Also called K2 or referred to by brand names invented by illicit chemists, Spice has caused some of the most intense physical damage and even fatalities. It can happen in the first use or the tenth. You really don’t know what you’re getting, chemically speaking, and you don’t know how your body will react to it.
But some young people have not heard about these dangers. And some other young people think that “it won’t happen to them.” But they never know what’s going to happen until it has already hit them – and then it may be too late.
A new report from Spain describes such a case. Professors of medicine in Castallon reported on a person who suffered a catatonic psychotic break after using Spice. But that’s not all. The person also suffered from difficulty moving and was bent over even months after he stopped using Spice. He had stiffness in the head and neck and could not control his motions.
In another report, one medical center stated that they had admitted five teens who had smoked Spice and then suffered psychotic episodes: http://articles.dailypress.com/2012-09-10/health/dp-nws-spice-health-0910-20120910_1_synthetic-drug-spice-designer-drug.
In that report, Dr. Gary Starkey said, “”They’re showing up very confused and disoriented, some may clear up on their own, but others are dazed for several days. Some have tipped over into a bipolar mania and some have residual symptoms that have tipped off a lifelong illness.”
Another report from the Naval Medical Center of San Diego stated that ten men were admitted for new-onset psychosis over a five month period in 2010. Three of these patients still suffered symptoms more than five months after their admissions.
In case anyone is fooled by the drug’s description as a synthetic marijuana, Spice is not actually a similar at all to marijuana. There is a slightly similar action in the brain to cannabis and that motivated the manufacturers to market this product as synthetic cannabis. This association with minimal basis in fact could lead some people to think that these uncontrolled chemicals could be less life-threatening or addictive than heroin or methamphetamine. But that is very far from the truth.
If you know someone who might be tempted to use this drug, please let them know about the dangers. Maybe this specific information on the dangers will help convince them.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140606091427.htm
