Authorities: ‘Synthetic marijuana’ causes extreme violence, seizures

So-called “synthetic marijuana,” which has changed drastically from the original makeup of the drug, is continuing to spread through the Tri-City area and across St. Mary Parish causing extremely violent behavior that can be coupled with seizures and hallucinations, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Capt. John Kahl Jr. said.
Kahl said the sheriff’s office has seen synthetic drug use become prevalent in the community over the past several years. Kahl oversees the office’s combined investigations division. “We’ve seen some of the side effects and symptoms become progressively worse,” Kahl said. “We attribute that to the change in chemical compounds in it to circumvent the laws.”
Kahl will speak Monday at “Jacks Take a Stand,” an event to educate parents about synthetic marijuana at 6:30 p.m. today at the Patterson Area Civic Center, according to a Patterson High School news release.
The event will be presented by Hattie Watts Elementary School, Patterson Junior High School, Patterson High School, the City of Patterson and the Patterson Police Department.
Though the event is for parents only, Patterson Junior High School BETA Club students will provide babysitting services for attendees at the Patterson Civic Center, the release said.
Kahl said different types of “batches” or combinations of substances coincide with rashes of people being admitted to the hospital after using these drugs, Kahl said. People who manufacture the “designer drug” are constantly changing the substances used “to stay one step ahead of law enforcement,” Kahl said.
The chemical composition of synthetic drugs has changed so much over the past 20 years that users never know what the effects may be, Kahl said. “People call it synthetic marijuana. Well, it’s not,” Kahl said.
Hallucinations, seizures, acute psychosis and aggressive behavior are some of the symptoms of synthetic drug use, Kahl said. “We’ve also seen a lot of illnesses associated with withdrawals from it. This is a physically addictive substance,” Kahl said. Certain “brands” of the drug give different effects to the user, Kahl said.
Synthetic marijuana use has “crossed more barriers” than any other type of drug Kahl has seen, he said. “We’ve had cases of consumption from 9-, 10-year-olds to older people in their 50s. It crosses ages. It crosses social barriers, economic barriers. It’s not just kind of pigeon-holed to one group that’s using it,” Kahl said.
No deaths in the area have yet been directly attributed to synthetic drug use, Kahl said. “It does cause suicidal thoughts in some cases,” Kahl said. Synthetic drugs have the potential to cause acute kidney injury along with rapid heart rate and blood pressure high enough to sustain permanent damage to the heart, Kahl said.
Patterson Police Chief Patrick LaSalle said the City of Patterson has had more than 40 documented cases of synthetic marijuana users just in the city with more than half of that number hospitalized.
“The problem with synthetic marijuana is health professionals really don’t know what to do when you come into the hospital for it,” LaSalle said. “They have a list of symptoms, but they don’t know what the long-term effects can be.”
One of theories of why synthetic marijuana use has increased is due to the fact that it is not detectable in drug screenings, LaSalle said. LaSalle encouraged people to say something if they see something suspicious, he said.
“We have some remarkable citizens in Patterson that call us about anything and everything, and we deeply appreciate it. But I’m not hearing the feedback I need back in regards to this specific drug,” LaSalle said. One reason LaSalle may have not gotten as much community feedback concerning synthetic marijuana is because it has not yet reached the mainstream of society in the area, he said.
Even the drug dealers selling the substances do not know what compounds are in the synthetic drugs, Kahl said. “That’s a lot of the danger of it is that you don’t know what it is you have. You don’t know what’s going to happen whenever you do smoke it,” Kahl said. “On top of all that, you’re going to form an addiction to it, a physical addiction, not just more of a psychological (addiction), which you see more common with marijuana,” Kahl said.
Kahl has spoken to students, teachers and church groups about synthetic drugs, he said. “You don’t fix things by just grabbing people and putting them in jail. You’ve got to try to get to them before it comes to that point.
“The best thing that we can do is get out there and give as much education to the public as we can. So whenever the kids or adults or whatever they are, they’re faced with it, or it’s offered to them, they have some kind of information where, hopefully, they can make a good decision,” Kahl said.
Morgan City Assistant Police Chief Mark Griffin Jr. said the department sees synthetic marijuana use becoming a lot more problematic for police with increased medical calls relating to hallucinations and combativeness toward family members and police, Griffin said.
Because suppliers of synthetic marijuana keep changing what substances are in the drug, Griffin hopes the state will just ban all synthetic compounds, Griffin said. “That way we could try to manhandle it from the get-go. And try to deal with it head-on, but until the state comes along and does something, or the federal government even, we’ll pretty much do what we can,” Griffin said.
Drug testing does exist that can detect synthetic drugs, Griffin said.
Berwick Police Chief James Richard said though Berwick police arrested 16 people for possession of synthetic marijuana in the past year, the department made double or triple the arrests for illegal possession of prescription medication. “Synthetic is a problem. But I think the two significant problems are synthetic and possession of prescription medication,” Richard said.
Synthetic marijuana use is also prevalent in west St. Mary Parish, Franklin Police Lt. Terrance Moore said. Moore, who is charge of the department’s narcotics division, said police began to see synthetic marijuana arrests in mid-2012 when Gov. Bobby Jindal banned bath salts and synthetic potpourris.
The department has seen as many as two to three people per week go to the hospital for overdoses from synthetic drugs, but not yet seen any deaths attributed to the drugs, Moore said.