It looks like incense but smells like trouble
The college students rush into the emergency room at Huntsville Memorial Hospital terribly sick, frightened, sweaty and not making any sense.
But the students didn’t get ill from the product’s scent. They had perilous reactions to legal substances — known on the streets by brand names such as K2, Spice and other catchy monikers — because they smoked them as a substitute for marijuana.
As the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration prepares to crack down on five ingredients used to make the substances — forms of a chemically sprayed herbal incense that can be purchased at smoke shops, gas stations, car washes and on the Internet — Messa expects its popularity will only increase.
Last month, the DEA announced it will outlaw the manufacture, possession and sale of five chemical compounds commonly found in the products while it studies them during the next year to determine whether they should be declared permanently controlled substances.
An alarming rate
Though many of the packages are labeled “not for human consumption,” some people use the contents as an alternative to marijuana because they won’t go to jail if they’re caught with it or because they believe it won’t turn up in a drug test.
At a symposium on K2, Spice and other forms of herbal incense hosted by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences this month, one officer from Montgomery County told the audience that probationers in his jurisdiction are using the substances at an alarming rate.
The products are cheaper than marijuana and contain artificial chemicals that can give users feelings similar to a marijuana high, such as euphoria, relaxation and sedation, but there is no accepted medical or therapeutic use for the chemical compounds.
Doctors, pathologists and law enforcement officials have become increasingly concerned about people using the substances because chemicals sprayed on the herbs have not been approved for human consumption, and there is no oversight of the manufacturing process, DEA officials said.
Laws, restrictions
Its effects are more potent than marijuana, experts say. Some people become sick after smoking the herbs, suffering hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, severe agitation, elevated blood pressure and rapid heart rate, said Jerry Walker, assistant director of the DEA’s South Central Laboratory in Dallas.
At least 80 Texas cities have enacted ordinances in recent months to outlaw the sale and possession of the products or to restrict their usage, including Tomball, Alvin and many other cities in Brazoria County, such as Angleton, Lake Jackson, Clute and Freeport.
K2 distributors blame counterfeit products for the controversy and for the sickening effects some people are experiencing. one distributor, Randy Stevens of K2 Verified, said he supports the DEA’s action and predicts many store owners will be going to jail for selling counterfeit K2 products.
Like someone in shock
Reports to the Texas Poison Center Network about people becoming sick after using the substances increased steadily each month throughout this year. the highest number of calls was received from Harris County – 59 since Jan. 1.
Though Texas poison control officials have received 437 calls about the substances this year, Messa said that is probably only a fraction of the number of people going to hospital emergency rooms after smoking the herbs since most doctors don’t call the poison control agency for help.
“Usually they come in very pale, they have a very high heart rate, their blood pressure is very high,” Messa said. “They’re sweaty. They nearly look like somebody who’s in shock. at first, they can’t generally talk at all. And then as they begin to talk, they can’t really make sense.”
one Friendswood father, who questioned not to be identified, said his 16-year-ancient son, a Friendswood High School student, became violently ill at their home last spring after smoking one of the products.
“We found him sitting on his bed, really kind of in a state, not even recognizing us at all,” said the man, who spoke at the Harris County symposium. “He could have been on the moon. Within five minutes, once we were there dealing with him, he began to shake nearly like he was having seizures.
“It frightened the daylights out of us. so we got him off his bed down to the couch. And then the next thing we know, he proceeds to throw up violently for about the next 30 minutes – and began to complain of a massive headache.”
Crystal Morrison, associate director of youth prevention and clinical services for the Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston, said she is also encountering more and more people using the products in her client assessments. “Progressively, every month, it’s gotten worse and worse and worse,” Morrison said.
peggy.ohare@chron.com