“We’ve been having a rash of EMS calls in relation to drug-overdose type calls in relation to synthetic drugs”

Fannin County seeks to stop a new drug problem in its tracks. During the January 24th Board of Commissioners meeting, EMS Director Lonnie Oliver asked the board to draft an ordinance to ban a series of synthetic drugs, an incense called SPICE and bath salts.

“We’ve been having a rash of EMS calls in relation to drug-overdose type calls in relation to synthetic drugs; these are things like potpourri—other names, like SPICE and bath salts,”

Oliver said. He explained that recently the county has had over a dozen calls, noting that,

“sometimes they’re not overdoses, but they’re under the influence.”

Oliver added that use of this drug is becoming a problem in Fannin, surrounding counties and nation-wide. In an effort to convince the board to ban these over-the-counter and legal synthetic substances, he noted that other counties and cities in Georgia have adopted a ban on the sale of synthetic drug and use.

“The big problem with passing laws against this stuff,” one citizen said, “is they keep changing the make-up of it. So, if we pass a law a week later they’ll be selling a different formula.”

In response, Oliver said that an ordinance would cover such loopholes with the proper phrasing.

So, what it is SPICE? And how are bath salts used as drugs?

Writing on scienceblogs.com, David J. Kroll says that SPICE is an

“herbal substance sold as incense (or potpourri),” and that “the products contain one or more synthetic compounds that behave similarly to the primary psychoactive constituent of marijuana…THC.”

Drugabuse.com says that the drug causes rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation, confusion, and hallucination. Several accounts have testified that the usage of this drug has also initiated seizures and violent behavior, and, according to some cases even death. SPICE is also known as K2, blaze or simply “fake marijuana.”

However, Bath Salts seem to supersede the damaging effects of SPICE. In her Bloomberg Business Week article, Amanda Gardner quotes Louisiana Poison Control Director Mark Ryan on the detriment of the drug.

“If you take the very worst of some of the other drugs — LSD and Ecstasy with their hallucinogenic-delusional type properties, PCP with extreme agitation, superhuman strength and combativeness, as well as the stimulant properties of cocaine and meth — if you take all the worst of those and put them all together this is what you get. It’s ugly,”

Ryan said. One source states that bath salts have been linked to hospitalizations and even suicide. Bath salts, known also as Vanilla Sky and Ivory Wave, are generally injected, snorted, or mixed with water as beverage, according to abovetheinfluence.com.

SPICE and bath salts are illegal in Georgia, which prohibits the sale of any product with this chemical. The challenge with prevention, though, is that the law prohibits the chemical, not a specific manufactured product. Also, according to a local drug task force, the drug is so new that no effective preliminary analysis yet exists. As such, the chemical is not immediately detectable.

During the Board of Commissioners meeting, Oliver said that as of April 6, 2011, 3200 cases of synthetic drug related incidents were reported to the Poison Control Center. Oliver added that nine reported deaths were due to synthetic drugs and that in the last month Fannin County responded to approximately six synthetic-drug related incidents. Oliver said that he wants to be pro-active and address the issue now before becomes a bigger problem. Commissioner Chairman Bill Simonds asked County Attorney Lynn Doss to work with Oliver to draft ideas for an ordinance for the next meeting.