The New Crack
I bet many of you remember the iconic 1991 film, New Jack City, starring Wesley Snipes as Nino Brown. Brown was a rising drug lord in New York City during the crack epidemic. He built this large drug empire in an apartment complex utilizing people from the neighborhood while destroying several households in the process either by supplying their needed “fix” or by just cold-blooded murder. His nemesis was a detective played by Ice-T.
The film gave graphic visuals of how the crack addiction slowly eroded away life as the community once knew it. You saw pregnant women risking the health of their babies, sons stealing household goods from their parent’s homes just to get money for their next crack supply, or you saw young men being lured into the business by their desire to have instant financial gratification.
Crack cocaine is a highly addictive and powerful stimulant that is derived from powdered cocaine using a simple conversion process. Crack emerged as a drug of abuse in the mid-1980s. It is abused because it produces an immediate high and because it is easy and inexpensive to produce – rendering it readily available and affordable.
Crack is usually smoked because this method delivers a large quantity to the lungs. It produces an intense high and sense of euphoria. The drug is also extremely addictive and its abusers tend to want more and more.
However, a new epidemic is on the horizon. “Bath salts” and synthetic marijuana are the latest craves. Bath salts (not Epsom salt) is a synthetic powder in drug paraphernalia stores under a variety of names, such as “Ivory Wave,” “Purple Wave,” “Red Dove,” “Blue Silk,” “Zoom,” “Bloom,” “Cloud Nine,” “Ocean Snow,” “Lunar Wave,” “Vanilla Sky,” “White Lightning,” “Scarface,” and “Hurricane Charlie.” The synthetic marijuana is sold under the names K2, K3, or spice.
These drugs cause effects similar to cocaine: increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions. There are also long term effects such as seizures, psychotic episodes, and memory impairment. Recent police reports have found that individuals who are on the substances are sometimes difficult to subdue.
Just this month, a New York mom died after being tasered by the police after a maddening attack where she stripped naked and tried to choke her 3-year-old son. A Kansas City, Missouri woman attacked her neighbor and bit his arm nearly ripping off his nicotine patch. Following the attack, the woman dropped to all fours like a dog and began to dig in the ground.
In August 2011, a new law here in Missouri went into effect banning these substances. Possession of any bath salts or more than 35 grams of a synthetic cannabinoid substance is a Class C felony. Less than 35 grams is a Class A misdemeanor. Many other states have similar laws.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made illegal the possession and sale of three of the chemicals commonly used to make bath salts – the synthetic stimulants mephedrone, MDPV, and methylone in October 2011. The ban will remain in effect for at least one year while the DEA and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) further study whether these chemicals should be permanently controlled. To further help in this new war on drugs, President Obama signed into law on Monday, July 9th, the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 as part of Senate Bill 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
So what is the take home message? Illegal drugs continue to evolve and wreak havoc on our communities. It was first heroin, then crack/cocaine, methamphetamine, and now synthetic drugs such as bath salts and K2/K3.
The message to our children and teens should remain the same: “Say no to drugs.” We need to counsel our children at all ages. This counsel should make them aware that drugs are taking a new form, new packaging, and new misleading advertisements.
As a community we should be hyper vigilant regarding the type of stores allowed in our neighborhoods and the items that are sold there. Many of these bath salts are sold in benign appearing packaging. Let us continue to stay engaged and keep our communities safe from these dangerous chemicals.
Yours in Service,
Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D.
Assistant Professor
SLUCare Family Medicine yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com
