Synthetic marijuana use is on the rise in Tri-City area

The local emergency room has seen what doctors describe as an “alarming increase” in patients using synthetic marijuana, and police say that while it’s been in the area for a number of years, its use is on the rise in the Tri-City area.
“In the last two weeks, we have seen an alarming increase in the number of patients who have used synthetic marijuana,” said Sabrina Roy, Teche Regional Medical Center spokeswoman.
Paul Lousteau, emergency room director, said they typically see 10 to 12 synthetic marijuana users a week. However, in the 18-hour shift between Oct. 9 and 10, he said, the emergency room saw five unrelated cases.
Typically, the patients he sees are males in their early 20s, but patients are of all races and backgrounds. He noted that they’ve seen youths who are going to school and working.
“This is serious. People don’t realize … to see something 10 to 12 times a week in the ER, the same cause, is pretty significant,” Roy said.
Patients exhibit increased strength and aggressiveness, Roy said.
“One patient came in and it took four police officers and one ER nurse to hold him down and they were struggling,” Roy said. She added that patients are out of their minds and essentially “talking in tongues.”
Lousteau, a nurse for 18 years, said the drug reaction reminds him of patients who used to come in after having taken PCP, commonly known as “Angel Dust.”
Master Trooper Brooks David, State Police Troop I spokesman, said both sheriff’s deputies and state troopers are seeing an increase in synthetic marijuana on area roads as well as in the emergency rooms.
Officers are trained in what to look for when dealing with the individuals as well as to look for this type impairment in a driver, he said.
“One may want to sleep, and another wants to fight and is not in his mind,” David said.
Randy Buxton, a licensed addiction counselor at Fairview Treatment Center, said symptoms include poor impulse control, scattered thinking, having a hard time completing tasks and conversation lucidity that comes and goes. The main symptom, though, is being agitated with a short attention span.
Violence, hallucinations and seizures also can result, he said.
Information from the St. Mary Parish Red Ribbon Committee indicates synthetic cannabis is a mix of dried herbs and spices that have been sprayed with a synthetic cannabinoid, a chemical that is similar to THC, the active ingredient in the illegal drug marijuana.
Buxton said incense or potpourri is often sprayed with insecticides or solvents by the manufacturer.
“That combination, poisonous as it is, gives some kind of mood change,” Buxton said.
The drugs have been around for years, created with the original intent to make a drug that helped stimulate the appetite of people ill with glaucoma, a disease that can cause blindness, according to the Red Ribbon Week campaign information.
John Huffman, a chemist at Clemson University, created many of the chemicals used to manufacture synthetic cannabis. Huffman says that others started spraying the chemicals on leaves and herbs, and sold the product as a drug to be used for pleasure.
Buxton said, “We believe they keep changing the chemical compounds in there to stay ahead of the DEA.”
Meanwhile, Morgan City Assistant Police Chief Mark Griffin Jr. said the state outlawed all synthetic marijuana, regardless of its chemical makeup.
Buxton described the high as being hallucinatory or an intense marijuana high but not very long-lasting, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Packages contain four to six grams of the substance, enough to make three to four joints or two blunts out of and cost $30 each, Buxton said.
While the drug is labeled as synthetic marijuana, it has nothing to do with marijuana, Buxton said.
“It’s potpourri with chemicals. The name lends itself to legitimacy,” he said.
Buxton said he’s been seeing the drug in the treatment setting for three or four years, while Griffin said it made its way to Morgan City about eight years ago with a recent spike in activity a little over a year ago.
Names for the drug can include Spice, K2, Mojo, Serenity, Genie, Zohani, Yucatan Fire and Silver Surfer, among others.