Synthetic drugs are becoming more common in the United States, but many people still have dangerous misconceptions regarding the makeup and effects of the drugs. One of the most basic mistakes that people make regarding a drug like synthetic marijuana, is that it has anything to do with marijuana. In fact, someone who ingests synthetic marijuana is likely to not experience any feelings that they would if they ingested regular marijuana. This dangerous confusion has led many to experiment with synthetic drugs and experience side effects such as violence, suicidal thoughts and actions, paranoia and even coma.
Medical professionals have witnessed firsthand how dangerous synthetic drugs can be. “They’re belligerent. They’re wild. Their body’s just moving around, but they can’t control it, and requires maybe people to kind of help keep them clam, so that they don’t harm themselves or harm anybody else. You get a lot more people who get that agitation, the psychosis, the paranoia, even convulsions, and even in some cases death from this drug,” explained Dr. Kam Tillman from Howard University Hospital.
Despite most synthetic drugs being illegal throughout the country, the manufacturers are constantly finding loopholes to current legislation. The most common way of doing this is by altering the ingredients of the drugs. Because the chemicals are manufactured in a warehouse with a variety of ingredients, it is easy for creators to switch out different substances to avoid making a drug that has been deemed illegal.
While officials are working hard to fix this dangerous trend, there are some things that citizens can do in the meantime to better protect themselves and their children. One of the best is to provide more education about these toxic substances to improve the prevention efforts. Manufacturers of these drugs typically target young people, and in order to combat this they need to understand that they really don’t know what they’re ingesting at all, and that it’s not worth rolling the dice.