Chemical Change In Synthetic Marijuana Suspected Of Causing Illnesses

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Over the past three weeks, people have been tumbling into emergency rooms across the country, seriously ill after using a synthetic drug known as K2 or spice.

Hundreds of cases have been reported in states including Alabama, Mississippi and New York, where state health departments have warned people to stay away from the drug. New York City alone saw over 120 emergency cases in a single week in April.

Several people have died, and emergency room physicians have been seeing K2 users showing up with severe symptoms: high blood pressure, clenched muscles, seizures, hallucinations and psychosis.

"We have to chemically restrain and physically retrain them because they become violent and very strong. It takes four to five personnel to restrain them on a gurney," says Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. One patient last week ended up in the ICU. "He was...

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URL: 
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/04/27/402052478/chemical-change-in-synthetic-marijuana-suspected-of-causing-illnesses