Fake Marijuana Can Be Fatal
Chemicals used to create the effects of marijuana are more potent, and more dangerous than the genuine drug.
Fake (synthetic) marijuana has a host of aliases including: K2, fake weed, Yucatan Fire, Skunk, and Moon Rocks, just to name a few.
The designer drugs consist of crushed or shredded plant material that is soaked in mind-altering chemicals that, according to drug enforcement agents, can lead to psychoactive effects. THC is the ingredient in marijuana that produces the “high” effect; these drugs are soaked in chemicals that are believed to produce a similar high.
The chemicals used to produce the fake drugs have not been approved by the FDA; there is not a quality-controlled universal recipe to create the drugs, and thus the true side effects are unknown.
Spice can trigger a heart attack because the drug can raise blood pressure and reduce blood supply to the heart; fake drug users who have been treated by Poison Control Centers have reported experiencing altered perception elevated mood, and relaxation. Other Spice users have reported vomiting, agitation, hallucinations, paranoia and rapid heart rate.
Fake drugs are smokeable and are sold over the counter in nondescript corner stores everywhere. Available in bright colored packaging, these fake drugs are labeled “Not for human consumption,” in a ploy to keep the manufacturers out of jail.
The word on the street and in the slick marketing of the products is that the fake drugs are a “legal” high. Some brands, such as “Spice,” “K2,” “Blaze,” and “Red X Dawn” are labeled as incense.
