DEA bans drug that mimics marijuana

CLEVELAND - The Drug Enforcement Agency issued an emergency ban on the five chemicals used to make a drug soaring in popularity in Northeast Ohio Tuesday.

"Spice" or "K2" are herbs sprayed with chemicals meant to mimic the effects of marijuana. NewsChannel5 talked to several drug prevention experts who said the use of spice has spiked in Ohio during the last year.

Kelly Lazar, the director of the Chemical Abuse Prevention Association, said she began hearing about spice last January. Lazar said the drug is cheap and easy to find at local head shops and gas stations.

Until Tuesday, the drug was legal to buy in Ohio.

Mike Matoney, the executive director of New Directions, a local adolescent drug treatment center, said more of his clients have used spice. The chemicals used to make the drug do not show up in most standard drug urine tests.

Both Matoney and Lazar expressed concern about the drug because they believe it could be deadly.

"This is a central nervous system chemical that jumbles up your brains and your neurons in your brains and could cause your brain to short circuit which could lead you to not breathe. It could really be life threatening," Matoney said.

Lazar said emergency rooms have reported increases in patients who are using the drug. Officer George Willis, the supervisor of the Lake County Narcotics Unit's drug prevention program, said seven teens were sent to a local hospital last fall after they ate brownies laced with spice at school.

Willis also said spice has grown in popularity during the last year.

University Hospital officials said emergency room doctors know of six patients in 2011, who needed care after smoking spice.

Those patients complained about nausea, vomiting and a racing heartbeat, according to Vic Gideon, Senior Media Relations Strategist at University Hospital. Lazar, Matoney and Willis said users often hallucinate while using the drug.

Lazar said it could trigger or worsen a preexisting mental illness.

NewsChannel 5 had no trouble finding the drug or people who have tried it at local head shops.

Mentor resident Roy Adams told he enjoyed the effects of the drug.

"You don't get that much of the munchies," he said. "But you get like, you get like high, like you chill, like you instantly relaxed. It's kind of an instant relaxing thing."

The DEA's emergency bans on spice or K2 last one year.

During that time, federal officials will study the effects of spice to determine whether it should permanently become a controlled substance, like marijuana or cocaine.

Ohio lawmakers may also ban spice. There is a proposal in the Ohio legislature that would make the chemicals used to make the drug illegal. Eighteen states have already banned the drug.