Hi


August 09, 2010

HOPE HODGE

It’s everywhere and it’s legal, but spice, a new designer drug gaining popularity in Jacksonville, may not be harmless.

Spice, sold by the gram in foil packets and also known as K2 and by a host of other aliases, typically comes with the label “herbal incense — not for human consumption.” But though use and possession of spice is explicitly banned in the Marine Corps, many troops smoke it as a drug substitute that won’t pop positive on a urinalysis.

A Marine staff noncommissioned officer based at Cherry Point, who asked not to be identified for fear of disciplinary action, said the substance was ubiquitous throughout the ranks at the air station.

“I’ve heard talk from junior enlisted to staff NCOs even higher ranking than myself, and even officers, about using it fairly openly,” the Marine said.

But when the Marine experimented with smoking spice himself, he had an unexpected reaction.

“After several minutes, I noticed that my heart was beating faster and faster, to a degree that I thought was probably unhealthy,” he said. “I noticed my extremities started to feel a bit numb and then my arms and cheeks. I wasn’t able to move for quite some time … It became increasingly difficult for me to breathe; and no matter how much I did breathe, I was still short of breath. I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to live through the night.”

Neither he nor his roommates, who all smoke spice regularly and have had no similar reaction, called Emergency Medical Services because of the certainty of getting in trouble with their command.

A civilian resident of Jacksonville, who said he viewed spice as a legal alternative to marijuana and also asked not to be named, related a similar experience.

After smoking spice on four occasions without experiencing anything but a “high” feeling, he tried a different brand and immediately felt ill.

“My heart started beating; it felt funny. I got really thirsty, drank some water and went to lay down in bed,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep. I thought that I was going to die. I had some convulsion-type stuff. It felt like a bad acid trip.”

Both the Marine and the civilian said their spice scares would keep them from trying it again.

Dr. Justin Brower, toxicology supervisor at the Medical Examiner’s office in Raleigh, said that JWH-018 and a number of similar synthetic cannabinoids are what give spice its potency.

“It is more potent than THC, and it’s legal in a lot of states,” Brower said. “It binds the same cannabinoid receptors in the brain as THC.”

THC is the primary psychoactive chemical in cannabis, or marijuana.

Brower said the Medical Examiner’s office does not screen for spice or K2, or any other synthetic cannabinoid.

“I haven’t heard of anybody dying from it,” he said. “As far as I know, no one has ever died from a cannabinoid overdose.”

According to reports earlier this year by USA Today, several states where spice is legal have had numerous reports of illness induced by use of spice, including rapid heart rate, dangerously high blood pressure and occasionally hallucinations. In Missouri, where a ban on the active chemicals in spice will take effect in August, had reported 40 cases in April, soon after the compound debuted in stores.

George O’Daniel, director of the Onslow County Health Department, said he had not received reports of illness from spice in Onslow County.

“I do know that it is something that had been a subject of discussion in the last weeks as far as that goes,” he said. “The issue from my perspective is: It is legal or is it not legal?”

Spice and its affiliates are unregulated in North Carolina. Onslow County state representative George Cleveland told the Daily News he plans to introduce a bill to ban the substance in February.



Contact military reporter Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.

Ear

Bongme