Community Corner

PART 1: Wanna Get High? This Is Not Your Gramma's Potpourri

"100% Legal" synthetic marijuana in any form is no longer legal in CT


When it comes to drugs and different ways of getting "high," you can never stay ahead of the kids, but the state and local law enforcement officials are doing their part to get "Legal" marijuana out of the hands of our children.

Several years ago teens discovered a way to get a quick, cheap "high."

Who was their drug dealer? The local gas station clerk.

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For $8 to $20 anyone could enter a store and purchase a foil packet of "Cloud 9" "Mr. Nice Guy" or "K2" from a fully stocked behind the counter display.

These items are advertised as potpourri or incense and they come in a variety of delightful flavors, such as blueberry, cotton candy, strawberry etc. and look completely harmless. and the packaging would lead you to believe that it's safe.

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The K2 Extreme packaging contains legalese wording to protect the manufacturer from law suits, including the words 100% Legal, and "does not contain (several specific chemical compounds).

What gets me is the description of the product, "K2 brings you to the apex of incense burning bliss. A luxurious blend of organic leaves and flowers will have you begging for more." This is followed by "Not for human consumption."

I have a package of potpourri that is made for the purpose of freshening the air in the car, in a dresser drawer or suitcase, etc. I love the pomegranate scent, but nowhere on the packaging does it say it will have me begging for more.

So, what's the difference between my 7 ounce bag of potpourri and the 3 gram foil packet of Mr. Nice Guy potpourri?

1) My bag of potpourri is in a dresser drawer to freshen my sweaters, and I wouldn't want to use it for any other purpose.

2) K2 is in Jimmy's dresser drawer, hidden from his parents when he's not sneaking out to smoke it.

Last week I heard from an Amity mom regarding the abuse of K2 and "Spice" by local teens, including her own.

Cynthia (not her real name) has two children a daughter, 17, and a 21 year-old son. She broke into tears as she told me about the effects of this "synthetic marijuana" on her daughter.

"She comes home and her eyes are bright red, she's rude and depressed, and she throws up all over herself, then sleeps on the bathroom floor with her head resting on the bathtub, because that's all that makes her feel better," she said.

Cynthia said she's found small plastic vials with white caps and torn off strips from the little packages in her daughter's bedroom.

"This stuff is highly addictive, it's been banned in New York and New Jersey and kids have died from it," she said. "My daughter was an excellent athlete and dancer and once she started smoking this stuff, she's a changed person. She quit all of her club activities at school, she spends a lot of time alone in her room and her grades fell from Bs to Ds."

Cynthia said she doesn't even know her child anymore since the "legal bud" came into their lives.

"We were once a close, tight knit family. We had dinner together every night, we played board games, went to movies as a family, and now this stuff is tearing us apart," she said.

Cynthia said she knows how addictive it is because her eldest child was addicted to it when he was a teen.

"He listened to us long enough to sit down and watch a cable show about the stuff he was smoking," she said. "The danger sunk in when he realized what chemicals he was ingesting and how they'd changed him. He quit and went into withdrawal for an entire week. Laying in his bed in the dark...but he kicked it."

Sadly, Cynthia's family is not the same as it once was. Her son is disgusted with his baby sister and won't have anything to do with her while she's smoking it.

Cynthia has tried to spread the word about the dangers of smoking K2 and other "Spice" but right now most parents are clueless since their kids come up with clever responses when questioned about their behavior.

Cynthia suggests that parents become more aware of the signs of this type of drug abuse.

• HALLUCINATIONS

• SEVERE AGITATION

• DANGEROUSLY ELEVATED HEART RATE AND BLOOD PRESSURE

• INCREASED RESPIRATION RATE

• PANIC ATTACKS

• DILATED PUPILS

• NUMBNESS/TINGLING

• VERY PALE SKIN

• VOMITING

Cynthia hopes that all parents will check thier homes for tear strips from the packaging, little vials and green leafy substances that smell like potpourri. 

"The invasion of your child's privacy could actually save their lives," she said.

Tomorrow: PART 2, a teen's perspective.


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