Spice Things Up

Spice is an herbal mixture that can give you that safe and legal high, similar to marijuana. For several years, Spice has been easy to purchase at smoke shops, gas stations and on the internet and, by all legal standpoint, is as safe as jimson weed tea and gives you a natural high.

This is what manufacturers of Spice would have you believe. With easy access and the illusion that Spice products are “natural” and altogether harmless is what makes this drug the second most used illicit drug, not only by adults but by high school seniors, next to marijuana.

Simply put Spice is a synthetic drug that is created by pharmaceutical companies who were trying to make cannabinoid receptor that offered an anti-inflammatory effect, but without the “high.” Kathy Colton of the Emergency Department at McKay-Dee Hospital stated, “It is not a natural thing, it is a stimulant. It causes people to be excited or excitable.” Not only can Spice be smoked, like a marijuana joint, but it can also be inhaled or ingested through bath salts. In the bath salt form, it is called many names like Vanilla Sky, Ocean Snow and Cotton Cloud. The beanie form (cigarettes) also have different names such as Diamond, Genie, and Dream. However no matter what the name it is still Spice. Hard to believe that synthetic drugs, like Spice, have only been heard about for about 7 years and has since then exploded on the scene.

Spice has been proven to have very wicked side effects and are often much more severe than non-synthetic drugs. These side effects can include, hypertension, agitation, vomiting, hallucinations, psychosis, epileptic seizures, convulsions, and panic attacks. Other symptoms included are heart attacks, alertness, energy, talkativeness, and increased sexual arousal. Among those individuals who need emergency treatment after using synthetic cannabis, the most common symptoms are accelerated heartbeat, high blood pressure, nausea, and blurred vision. At least one death has been linked to an overdose of synthetic cannabinoids and in Colorado, three deaths were recorded in September 2013 have been investigated for being linked to synthetic cannabinoids.

When asked how Spice affects the brain Colton relayed, “It binds on the same receptors that marijuana would bind on. Depending on where it binds on the brain depends on what kind of reaction you see.” In some cases, synthetic cannabis may precipitate in prolonged psychosis and worsening of previously stable psychotic disorders, and it may trigger a long-term psychotic disorder among vulnerable individuals such as those with a family history of mental illness. In December 2012, after two weeks of daily synthetic cannabis use, a 17-year old girl suffered multiple strokes and subsequent brain damage, leaving her blind and paralyzed. Spice is a very hardcore drug and should not be taken lightly.

Knowledge is power and power can be a very ludicrous demon. You would think that because we have the knowledge and know how to make drugs with medicinal benefits; that with Spice being such a hap to the jive and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by a thousand times Pi kind of drug there would be some kind of value for it in medicine similar to marijuana. But while talking with Colton she puts it quite clearly, “Spice does not have medicinal values that we know of. Yet.” With all of our technology the only way Spice can be detected is through test called a gas chromatography-mass spec through the bath salt form. When ingesting or inhaling Spice it can test positive for amphetamines in the blood, urine, stomach contents and every hair. But with all our efforts we are still very young in our technology and the very do not always do as they are told. More and more spice manufactures are directing the products to a young crow by putting symbols, like Mickey Mouse, on the packages and also by some of the street names it is known by. Vance Murphy, owner of The Store, parlayed that, “People use to bring Spice by to get me to sell it and a lot times it was sold in small containers by the gram or so. There is no quality control at all. You never know what concentration you are going to get at all.”

Even after being on Spice in the past it can still come back and leach onto you and not let go. A person, as Colton puts it, “can relapse from weeks to days after use. For example ‘I use Spice five days ago and I am still having these psychotic reactions.’ Sometimes it never goes away.” This drug is a ghost, a monovalent spirit, which you will fight with you all your life once you have use Spice. Colton mentions that “The crisis workers in the emergency department work with patients that are having mental or emotional problems and they rarely recover from that addiction to Spice.” Murphy has stated that, “Had a guy come in a while back that was sweating bullets and I asked ‘Are you okay?’ He said he was trying to get off Spice.”

With all our knowledge and technology we have become arrogant and with that arrogance comes a price. Spice is only one of many drugs out there today and many of them cannot be detected and are directed at our youth and can lead to death. With lives on the line, I know many people will be talking with doctors and scientists the sad part is many of the professionals out there do not even know what these drugs are or consist of. The only ones that do are the manufactures that make the poison. The very young do not always do as they are told.