TAMPA, Fla. -- It’s killed several people around the country. Now, it is here in the Bay Area, and health officials are issuing a warning about a potentially deadly batch of synthetic marijuana laced with rat poison.
Despite the obvious threat, the dire warning from health officials might not be enough.
“It’s a temporary high that can do permanent damage,” said Kathleen Quinn, who says she’s not a spice user but sees it all the time in the Bay Area.
She calls people she knows who do smoke the synthetic pot “zombies."
“Like the walking dead,” she says.
“We have a friend we call Radar. And Radar said it is so good, but it don’t last 10 minutes. And I got to have more and have more,” said Quinn.
But a batch of synthetic marijuana laced with rat poison has made its way to Hillsborough County. State Health Department workers confirm two cases, both from Hillsborough County.
One victim was found dead March 26. The second, who survived, was checked into a hospital with severe bleeding about three weeks ago.
Brodifacoum, a common chemical in rat poison, is a known additive in lower amounts used by so-called chemists who make the synthetic pot.
“There is some history of people adding pesticides like this rat poison to marijuana and other drugs to increase the effects of the drug,” said Michael Weise, an epidemiologist with the Dept. of Health.
Hospitals were warned a few weeks ago while lab results were being processed. Now that it’s confirmed, they’re going public.
There are still lots of questions about where the synthetic marijuana was purchased. In a store? On the street?
What is known, is that the same poison that’s killed at least three more people and sickened hundreds in the Midwest.
Health officials say the reaction to the rat poison, usually severe bleeding, is so severe that if anybody had been exposed officials would probably know about it.
They haven’t heard of any new cases since mid-April, but that is not to say that Tampa Bay is in the clear.
“These are dangerous products in and of themselves. The synthetic of nature of them makes them unpredictable. The effects are unknown,” said Weise.
Despite what would seem to be an obvious incentive to stop using the drug, people like Bogdan Pyz, who admits to having smoked synthetic pot, says even the threat of a deadly poison won’t convince some spice users to stop.
“The desire to get higher, so much higher than the desire to live. It’s a suicide,” said Pyz.
Health officials still don’t know if the amount of deadly chemical found in this batch of synthetic marijuana was added by accident or intentionally.
“If there’s ever a time to avoid using any sort of synthetic drug,” said Weise, “this is a prime time to not be using this stuff.”
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