Last updated : December 23, 2024
It’s no secret that teens and young adults face temptations, but it’s especially disturbing when they suffer horrific consequences from using products you can find in convenience stores and gas stations everywhere. Even worse, the companies making these products imply that they’re natural and safe alternatives to a popular illegal substance. Synthetic marijuana is known by many names such as Spice, K2, Kush, Mr. Happy, Moon Rocks and others. It is sometimes called incense or fake weed.
If you open a package of synthetic marijuana and look at its contents, you’ll see what appears to be an innocuous shredded plant-like material resembling potpourri. The packaging may state that the contents aren’t intended for human consumption. The clever warning helps keep the products under the legal radar. Don’t trust the appearance or implied safety; these substances are packed with synthetic cannabinoids that mimic the high produced by marijuana, but the side effects can be far more devastating. The popularity of synthetic marijuana products is a growing problem, especially among high school students, who smoke them or make tea from them to get high.
What Can Happen to Synthetic Marijuana Users?
While most people associate marijuana use with a benign increase in appetite, the effects of synthetic cannabinoids produced in underground labs are far more sinister. Patients treated in emergency rooms or by Poison Control Centers have collectively suffered the following symptoms as a result of their synthetic marijuana use.
- Kidney Damage
- Gastric Upset
- Strokes
- Heart Attacks
- Seizures
- Migraines
- Tremor
- Abnormal Heart Rhythms
- Psychosis
- Violent Behaviors
- Hallucinations
- Anxiety
- Withdrawal Symptoms
Lives Disrupted and Destroyed by Fake Weed
Synthetic marijuana has a frightening track record. It caused 16 young males to suffer severe kidney damage in 2013. Five of them had to undergo life-saving dialysis treatment. Three young men in Texas had heart attacks after smoking the dangerous product, and 15-year-old Kyle Smith of Maryland has now been institutionalized 17 times for psychiatric treatment after using it. Fortunately, his three suicide attempts failed. One of the most disturbing stories is that of 17-year-old Emily Bauer, who bought Kush at a gas station, and smoked it with her friends. After she complained of a migraine and went to take a nap, she suffered a series of strokes that drove her into a psychotic state. Before she was taken to a hospital by ambulance, Emily walked into walls, behaved violently and urinated on herself. After 24 hours, she had still not recovered. The strokes were caused by the synthetic marijuana constricting the blood vessels in Emily’s brain. When they began to expand, her brain swelled rapidly, and it was necessary to drill a hole into her skull to relieve the pressure. Despite the doctors’ best efforts, Emily was left brain-damaged, blind and partially paralyzed. Believing she would never be able to walk or recognize her loved ones again, Emily’s family decided to discontinue life support, but the young girl surprised everyone by speaking, recognizing her family and regaining some motor function. Sadly, Emily may never be the same as she was before using Kush.
The Natural Alternative Myth: Why Spice and K2 Are So Dangerous
The compounds used to make Spice, K2 and similar products are not produced in nature, but they act on the same cell receptors as THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana. Because there are no formal studies concerning the effects of many of these chemicals, experts can only speculate as to how severely they may affect the human brain or body. The users’ desired results such as relaxation or altered perception may be grossly exaggerated or completely opposite of effects produced by natural marijuana. Five of the most common chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana have been classified as illegal and banned. However, underground chemists continue to make their products by substituting different chemicals that are still technically legal.
Don’t Lose Your Loved Ones to Unnatural Highs
While drug authorities try to stay one step ahead of synthetic marijuana producers, you can protect vulnerable loved ones by spreading the word. Most Spice and K2 users have no idea they are introducing unnatural and dangerous chemical substances into their bodies. Share your knowledge, and prevent synthetic marijuana from destroying another life.
