Uptick in Synthetic Marijuana Poisonings
Published on 7/15/16
Despite repeatedly being banned around the US, synthetic marijuana products like Spice and K2 are continuing to slip through legal boundaries to poison youth and adults of all ages. The drug is sold as a legal high comparable to marijuana, but where pot will put you to sleep long before a lethal dose is possible, the death toll for the synthetic drug continues to rise, underlining the issue of it's legality. People using the synthetic drugs could be fearful of possessing marijuana illegally, failing a drug test due marijuana, or maybe some simply do not understand the dangers that come with spice, but the problem is clear that federally illegal marijuana is still much safer than legal synthetic marijuana. 2015 has seen the largest increase in synthetic marijuana poisonings to date, primarily in New York City.
Relative to all poisoning cases logged by 50 ToxIC sites, there was a "statistically significant association between reporting year and the annual proportion of synthetic cannabinoid cases," Dr Riederer and colleagues note. "In 2015, reported cases of synthetic cannabinoid intoxication increased at several ToxIC sites, corroborating reported upward trends in the numbers of such cases and underscoring the need for prevention," they write.
The largest overall increases have been seen in the Northeast, primarily driven by increases at sites in New York City.
