Botsford Trauma Doc: Spice Use Signs Include Isolation, Over-eating, Irrational Behavior
Dr. Sanford Vieder says 'synthetic marijuana' is a misnomer for the drug K2, now legally sold in Michigan stores.
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Botsford Hospital's Emergency Trauma Center hasn't been deluged with patients suffering from the effects of smoking "Spice", also known as K2, but director Dr. Sanford Vieder has seen enough to support public calls to get the synthetic drug out of Michigan stores.
"I think the public's kind of demanding that, and they should," he said, because the effects of the drug are so dramatic.
Spice is legally sold in Michigan, because the compound is not specifically banned under state law. The substance is packaged as "incense", with wrappers that are generally labeled with warnings that it is not for consumption.
Police departments in Plymouth, Canton and Northville townships are sending letters to local business owners, urging them to stop selling the products.
State lawmakers and officials in Oakland County, Macomb County, West Bloomfield Township and Royal Oak also have taken or are considering action to ban or discourage sale of the drug, which is connected to murders in Farmington Hills and West Bloomfield, and the death of a Bloomfield Township teen.
While people are calling Spice "synthetic marijuana", Vieder said, "it really isn't. Marijuana has a sedating effect ... This stuff actually has the opposite effect."
The drug frequently causes psychosis, and there's a "hallucinogenic component", he added. Violent behavior is also seen with the drug and "violent reactions to even the slightest stimulus."
Vieder said signs that someone might be using Spice include isolation and irrational behavior, including violence. He said continual over-eating and the inability to reach satiety or a sense of being full is seen in Spice users. The drug may also cause seizures, which Vieder said could have been what happened to 18-year-old Oliver Smith, the Bloomfield Township teen whose body was found May 26 along the shore of Wing Lake.
The psychosis and extreme violent behavior may or may not be seen in users, Vieder added, "but the likelihood is greater with frequent usage. There seems to be a cumulative effect."
While Botsford hasn't seen a large number of cases, Farmington Hills psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Sackeyfio told the Detroit Free Press he has handled many emergency cases with young people hospitalized at Beaumont in Royal Oak.
The Sunday Free Press report also included statistics from the Children's Hospital of Michigan Regional Poison Center, which show the number of people treated after using synthetic marijuana jumped from below 20 in 2010 to more than 200 last year. And there are 185 cases in the first five months of 2012.
Vieder urges parents who suspect their children are using Spice to reach out for help. Oakland County maintains a list of licensed substance abuse programs at oakgov.com.
uknowimright
4:53 am on Friday, June 8, 2012
The government made hemp (marijuana) illegal in order to find a legal way to persecute Mexican farm workers (who yes, smoked weed) who came over the border before they days of border control. Look it up: you had to have a stamp to possess marijuana, but to get the stamps, you had to show up at the government office and present your stuff. No stamp, no possession. It was a clear catch-22. Also, it helped out the rope making industry which wanted to eliminate competition from small scale hemp farmers.
Now, if the government would do with marijuana what it does with tobacco, alcohol, and other controlled substances (medications), it could take a big chunk out of the national debt.
How? Legalize, regulate, and tax. Legalize it, so that kids aren't out there killing themselves on fake weed, regulate it like any other agricultural product, and tax it like cigarettes and liquor and help get us out of this economic mess that the aging hippies started in the first place!
Time to think outside the box, because clearly, the same ol' same ol' isn't working.