Synthetic drugs reach Lynn area

LYNN – Public Health Director MaryAnn O?Connor said a 13-year-old Lynn girl told her grandmother she bought and used “fake pot” and ended up passing out on a sidewalk.She reported experiencing a “major, major headache” and heart palpitations after she was taken to the emergency room, O?Connor said.?We have a little girl who is scared for her life, who gave it to her grandmother who reported it,” she said of the so-called synthetic drugs that are showing up in Lynn. “She said she found it at a gas station.”O?Connor said synthetic drugs and the trendy designer drug “bath salts,” pose a danger to kids and teens who might not realize just how serious the drugs are.While the substances sold as “fake pot” may resemble marijuana and are marketed as a legal alternative, O?Connor said there is nothing natural about them.?Kids think they?re getting legal pot and what they?re really getting is a banned substance that?s chemical,” she said. “The effects are much more dangerous, and you don?t know what it will do – it depends on the person.”The problem has been growing throughout the country for several years, O?Connor said, but the cannibalistic attack of a homeless man in Miami in May by a man reported to have been on bath salts thrust it into the spotlight, and may have prompted the U.S. Senate to approve a bill banning the sale of synthetic drugs.?Now all of a sudden there?s a lot more information out there,” O?Connor said. “It?s a shame it took something like that to make them act.”O?Connor said both synthetic drugs and bath salts are available in Lynn.?I had heard from the kids that it?s readily available here in Lynn, so I went looking for it,” she said.O?Connor was able to purchase the bath salts, which she said are often called “Scoobie Snax,” in Lynn for a mere $2. The drug resembles large salt crystals, and generally comes in unmarked bag. Bath salts contain one of two psychoactive chemicals, MDPV or mephedrone, she said.O?Connor also bought what appeared to be incense and adorned with a purple, cartoonish label that said “K2 Pink.” K2 is a form of synthetic marijuana that has been banned by the FDA since last year.?You won?t find it hanging on a display,” she said. “It?s going to be hidden behind the counter.”She?s pushing an amendment to the city?s Drug Paraphernalia Ordinance to include all synthetic cannabinoids, commonly known as “fake pot” or “smokable incense” and synthetic cathinones, also known as “bath salts.”The amendment would allow Lynn Police to arrest individuals for possessing any synthetic drug, she said.Users have reported impaired perception, reduced motor control, disorientation, extreme paranoia, and violent episodes on the powerful synthetic drugs, O?Connor said, and the long-term physical and psychological effects of use are unknown but potentially severe.Mary Wheeler, a program director at Northeast Behavioral Health in Lynn, said the majority of calls the center gets are from people living outside Lynn, but there have been a few cases in the city.?We have had about six to 10 folks from Lynn come through the program here that have used one or both substances,” she said. “We have taken calls from a few people that have injected the bath salts and became very sick, requiring hospitalization. We have also received calls from parents about their children using the drug and getting very sick.”Many liken the high of injecting bath salts to that of cocaine or speed, Wheeler said.Wheeler said all of the people the center had talked to who have taken bath salts were younger than 30. She encouraged parents to familiarize themselves with what the drugs look like, as well as their packaging, and to talk to their children about its effects.?Parents should keep up to date with information about these drugs using the Internet or contacting a local substance abuse treatment program to ask about the current drug trends in their area,” Wheeler said.Possessing bath salts and other synthetic drugs is currently legal in Massa