Thousands Hospitalized This Year Due to Fake Weed

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thousands-hospitalized-this-year-due-to-fake-weed/?WT.mc_id=SA_HLTH_20151027

By Dina Fine Maron | Oct 20, 2015

When powerful street drugs collectively known as synthetic pot are smoked, the resulting high mimics the effects of marijuana. Yet these man-made cannabinoids are not marijuana at all. The drugs, more commonly called spice, fake weed or K2, are made up of any number of dried, shredded plants sprayed with chemicals that live in a murky legality zone. They are highly dangerous—and their use is on the rise.

Synthetic pot, which first hit the market in the early 2000s, has especially caught the attention of public health officials in the past couple of years, stemming from a surge in hospitalizations and violent episodes. Although the drugs act on the same brain pathway as weed's active ingredient, they can trigger harsher reactions, including heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and delusions. Between June and early August usage of these drugs led to roughly 2,300 emergency room visits in New York State alone. Nationwide more than 6,000 incidents involving spice have been reported to U.S. poison-control centers this year—about double the number of calls in 2013.