Synthetic Marijuana Use Rises; Doctors Still Don't Have Treatment Protocol

3 hours 36 minutes ago by Stephania Jimenez – sjimenez@kristv.com

CORPUS CHRISTI – The use of synthetic marijuana is on the rise. According to a recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the number of emergency department visits due to the drug doubled in one year; from 11,406 in 2010 to 28,531 in 2011. Despite the increasing popularity of synthetic marijuana, experts still haven’t developed a standard protocol to treat patients suffering from the drug’s adverse side effects.

“I thought I was dying. I literally thought I was dying,” said Elizabeth.

Elizabeth spoke to KRIS 6 News about her first and only encounter with synthetic marijuana. She wanted us to keep her identity private.

Elizabeth said she tried synthetic marijuana while she attended a concert earlier this year; she noticed someone there smoking what she believed was marijuana, asked for some, inhaled it, and it wasn’t long before panic set in.

“I couldn’t breathe. I just couldn’t catch my breath and then I started seeing people in front of me, going up and down.”

Elizabeth was experiencing some of the side effects; such as anxiety, paranoia, nausea/vomiting, and hallucinations, associated with synthetic marijuana.

“It tends to raise your pulse, raise your blood pressure…a lot of people have a form of psychosis,” said paramedic David Karrer, with the Corpus Christi Fire Dept.

“Seizures is another bad thing that happens with them,” explained Dr. Albert Gest, an emergency medicine specialist at Christus Spohn.

Despite a state and a federal law such as the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012, banning the sale or possession of some synthetic marijuana, the drug’s popularity has been increasing, especially among young men. That’s troubling to Dr. Gest, who believes synthetic marijuana is very risky. It hasn’t been around long, so little is known about its long-term effects. Also, its manufacturers keep changing the recipe to sidestep state laws. That means you’ll never quite know which chemicals are in the drug, and that makes it very difficult for doctors to develop a standard treatment protocol when a patient is suffering adverse side effects from synthetic marijuana.

“You sedate them and do the best you can with that,” explained Gest.

Unfortunately, that’s not enough in some cases. This summer, Connor Eckhardt, 19, of California, inhaled synthetic marijuana, slipped into a coma and never woke up.

Elizabeth survived; she was taken to a hospital the moment she fell ill. However, she feels she was lucky and hopes other people think twice before trying synthetic marijuana.

“What I experienced was so powerful that I don’t think a young kid could survive that on their own unless they get help immediately,” said Elizabeth.

Here’s more information on synthetic marijuana:

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/spice-synthetic-marijuana

http://www.aapcc.org/alerts/synthetic-marijuana/

http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/201410161215

Source

Synthetic Marijuana Use Rises; Doctors Still Don't Have Treatment Protocol