I Want a New Drug

Columbia County puts the heat on designer drug carriers   by Rashad O’Conner   The bath salts epidemic is a serious one that’s currently sweeping the nation, causing its users to react in bizarre and often violent ways. But despite the substance being reported as the cause behind several unusual occurrences across the country, not much is known about the “designer drug,” as professionals call it. CNN recently cleared up misconceptions surrounding a recent Florida case — in which a Florida local literally chewed away at the face of a homeless man. Contrary to initial reports, CNN confirmed weeks later that the “zombie-like” attacker was in fact under the influence of marijuana, not bath salts, as Florida officials were led to believe.   According to Investigator Robert Ellis of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the highly addictive drug is more in line with meth.   “It’s basically like doing cocaine and meth at the same time,” Ellis described. “From what my research tells me, when you do meth, the dopamine in your brain releases all that it can release for one day. With bath salts, specialists are saying that it also dumps all the dopamine that it can dump for one day, but then, like cocaine, it kind of wraps it [dopamine] up and holds it in your brain, which causes severe side effects.”   The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) has established that those effects include agitation, chest pains, increased blood pressure and increased heart rate, all induced by ingesting or snorting bath salts. Ellis added that the drug also causes “mind-altering” effects, from extreme paranoia to various other delusions and hallucinations.   While Ellis is concerned about the growing trend of bath salts nationwide, the investigator is hoping that the law first catches up with a similar drug called spice, which has already begun to rear its head in several areas of the CSRA.   “Some of these stores are fully aware that they’re selling products with spice in them,” the investigator said. “But these stores are being told by distributors [of spice] that it’s legal to sell. And that’s why it’s taking so much time to get to each store and let them all know that they can’t sell it.”   The demographic itching for a taste of spice — now listed as a “Schedule 1” drug — is not entirely different from those interested in bath salts. While the age range of spice users stretches across the board, Ellis said that the drug is usually found on users in their 20s.   “These users are people who are trying to obtain the drug because they think that they can purchase it legally at a store, like an alternative to buying marijuana,” Ellis said. “They don’t want to take a chance getting arrested for possessing marijuana, so they opt for spice, but the laws are catching up to it.”   Ellis noted that spice — also known as K2 and considered a synthetic form of marijuana — typically shares the same effects and properties as standard marijuana. However, the investigator’s research shows that the herbal drug has proven to be far more detrimental to its user.   “While it does have a lot of the same properties as marijuana, and also has some of the same effects, it’s a lot more addictive,” Ellis said. “I’d say that it’s harsher than marijuana and often has a much worse aftereffect than marijuana would have on its user. It’s definitely more potent.”   Just this month, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office arrested the owner of Lewiston Express at 107 Lewiston Road along with his son for illegally hawking the synthetic drug. In addition to the Lewiston Express arrests, Ellis also shed light on a subsequent raid that took place at another store in the area; one whose name he preferred not to be mentioned in the Metro Spirit.   “Everything that we took from this store, we sent to the crime lab to find out whether or not it was legal,” Ellis divulged. “So, while those drugs are being tested, we’re unable to say whether or not they’ve done anything wrong. But the legislator wanted us [law enforcers] to take samples from every store that’s selling that stuff [spice] so that they could have a wide variety of the drug in order to decide what’s legal and what’s illegal.”   Ellis says that the future of spice is bleak and that it will inevitably suffer the same fate as a number of already-banned substances.   “It’s going to be just like marijuana,” the investigator assured. “Every type of spice they can find with certain qualities is going to be regulated. If marijuana is already illegal and you have a drug similar to it that has worse side effects and is more addictive, then that’s definitely going to cause problems. But all of it [various strands of spice] will eventually be made illegal.” You Might Also Like: