A new, legal substance is gaining popularity in schools as the latest way to get high, CrimeTracker 10's Angela An reported on Tuesday.
The substance, K-2, is a mixture of herbs and spices that is sprayed with a synthetic compound. It has chemical similarities to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
The mixture is sold as incense and not for human consumption, An reported.
SPECIAL SECTION: CrimeTracker 10 | WEB EXTRA: Letter Sent Home To Dublin Coffman Parents
On Monday, Dublin Coffman High School's principal sent out an e-mail to parents that warned them about K-2.
The letter stated that children have wound up in hospital emergency rooms, with elevated heart rates and hallucinations.
"Frank," a 29-year-old man, said that a drug called Spice was an easy high when he tried it a few months ago.
He is now at Maryhaven, a facility that specializes in treating people with alcohol and drug dependencies. "Frank" has a 17-year habit of drugs that started with marijuana and ballooned into more hard core drugs.
"I graduated to LSD, to (mushrooms), cocaine, pills," Frank said.
Maryhaven President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Coleman said the danger of K-2 and other unregulated substances is that users perceive legal to mean safe. But Coleman said they are just as dangerous as illegal drugs.
"One of the dangers of any of these club drugs or fashion drugs that are sold at head shops is that you have absolutely no idea what's in them, how strong they are, how pure they are, how contaminated they are," Coleman said.
Former drug users like Chanyta Clayborn, of Columbus, fears these new "legal" substances with similarities to marijuana will lead young adults down a path like hers. Now 41-years-old, Clayborn started smoking marijuana when she was 14.
"The marijuana, it was a gateway drug," Clayborn said. "It led into deeper drugs and harder drugs that took me to my knees where I fell on a lof consequences."
Clayborn has been clean and sober for three years.
CrimeTracker 10 went undercover with two investigators from Franklin County's Street Smarts program to see how some businesses were marketing the substances, which are considered legal.
At our first stop, sheriff's investigators came back with a bag full of products like K-2 and Spike, which the clerk told them was a like the popular Spice, but much stronger.
In some cases, the clerk claimed the product was 80 times stronger than marijuana.
Investigators plan to test some of these products to see what exact chemicals are being used and how potent they are.
Some states are already working to outlaw the use of K-2.
Kansas and Utah have already passed legislation and other states are considering laws,
including Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Tennessee.
Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for additional information.
More Information:
- Operation Street Smarts Facebook page (must be a Facebook member)
- Maryhaven
- Amethyst Inc.
- Southeast Inc.
- Ohio Department of Mental Health
-
Ohio Resource Network
