Homeless Across Country Fall Victim to Synthetic Marijuana
In this photo made Friday, Nov. 11, 2016, firefighters and medics try to help a man onto a stretcher after he was found semiconscious on the ground in St. Louis. The man is believed to be one of several hundred who have become ill recently in St. Louis after possibly using a latest version of synthetic marijuana, a man-made hallucinogen that experts believe is far more dangerous and unpredictable than the real thing. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
The nation's homeless are proving to be especially susceptible to a new, dirt-cheap version of synthetic marijuana, which leaves users glassy-eyed, aimless, sprawled on streets and sidewalks oblivious to their surroundings or wandering into traffic.
Nearly 300 homeless people became ill last month in St. Louis due to the man-made hallucinogen that experts believe is far more dangerous and unpredictable than the real thing. Other outbreaks have occurred in New York City, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
"It was common for us to see reactions where they were violent, incoherent, sometimes catatonic on the ground," Austin police Lt. Kurt Thomas said.
The homeless are easy targets in a confined area, experts say. The drug is cheap — as little as $1 or $2 for a joint — more difficult to detect in drug tests and is a fast escape from a harsh reality.
Things got so bad in St. Louis last month that the region's largest provider of homeless services urged people to stop giving the homeless handouts, because they were worried the money would be used to buy the drug.
The Rev. Larry Rice saw the odd behaviors from several homeless people in the streets outside his New Life Evangelistic Center shelter in downtown St. Louis.
"They told me, 'You get so low, you get such a sense of hopelessness. Somebody wants to sell this for a dollar and you take it,'" Rice said. "People are desperate out there."
Synthetic marijuana has been around since the late 2000s, packaged under names like K2, Darkness and Mr. Happy. The Drug Enforcement Administration says it is usually a mixture of herbs and spices sprayed with a synthetic compound chemically similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredients in marijuana. It is typically manufactured in China and sold in places like head shops, but it's also on the street and over the internet.
State legislatures have outlawed it based on its chemical makeup, but the makers tweak the formula enough that it escapes the provisions of the law. So far in St. Louis, only one charge has been filed — a homeless man accused of selling to others on the street. To read the entire article written by By JIM SALTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. LOUIS — Dec 17, 2016, 10:30 AM ET please click here
