synthetic drugs

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Drug Dog Collapses, Dies After Prison Search

Officials believe reaction to synthetic pot killed Jake

(Newser) - An Alabama Department of Corrections drug-sniffing dog was carrying out a contraband search at a prison last week when he sniffed out something that killed him. Authorities say Jake, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, collapsed after detecting the substance during a contraband search Thursday at the Staton Correctional Facility, the Montgomery ...

Feds: Fake Pot Tainted With Rat Poison Found in 5 States

Outbreak has killed at least 3, sickened 116

(Newser) - Fake marijuana likely contaminated with rat poison has now killed three people in Illinois and caused severe bleeding in more than 100 others, including a few in four other states. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has alerted doctors nationwide that patients with severe, unexplained bleeding may be...

Synthetic Pot Users in Chicago Bleeding From Eyes, Gums

Officials are looking for source

(Newser) - Synthetic pot is causing a bloody mess in the Chicago area. "What we are seeing is people are coming in with various types of bleeding,” CBS Chicago quotes the chief medical officer of the Illinois Department of Public Health as saying. “Whether it’s nose bleeds, bleeding...

Search for Opioid 'Holy Grail' Is Killing People 40 Years Later

Synthetic opioid U-47700 has killed at least 125 people in 2016

(Newser) - "The bad guys, I hate to say it, are smart," a former DEA agent tells the Wall Street Journal . "They always seem to be a step ahead of the regulators.” The UN estimates that chemical labs around the world are cranking out "new psychoactive substances"...

Dozens Ill as 'Spice' Rampages Through LA's Skid Row

Police are passing out flyers warning of the dangers

(Newser) - Almost 50 people got sick in Los Angeles on Friday, and another 22 became ill in the city Monday—and the LAPD believes the synthetic drug "spice" is to blame. The people reported feeling sick with "drug-induced symptoms," per My News LA , and investigators say the chemicals...

He Took One Puff of Synthetic Pot. It Killed Him

8K poisonings reported in US in 2015

(Newser) - It may be called fake weed, but Spice differs from the real stuff in at least two notable ways: Customary urine drug tests can't detect it, which the Guardian reports is leading more Americans to turn to it for an "undetectable" high—and that high can kill. Some...

New Designer Drug Makes People Violent, Delusional

Flakka is on the rise, especially in Florida

(Newser) - A new designer drug is making people delusional, paranoid, violent, and extremely high—and it's available for just $5 a hit. Called Flakka, it's already been reported in Florida, Ohio, Texas, and is likely circulating in other states, Forbes reports. Florida cases are particularly disturbing, CBS News notes,...

Feds Bust 90 in Fake Pot, Bath Salt Raids

Almost 5 million packets of synthetic pot seized in nationwide crackdown

(Newser) - Federal agents arrested more than 90 people across 30 states today, in a nationwide crackdown on designer drugs. The DEA seized nearly 5 million packets of artificial pot and almost 167,000 packages of "bath salts," CNN reports. They also confiscated $36 million. "This enforcement action has...

Scientists Make Ebola Breakthrough

Create new synthetic vaccine that can survive long enough to be effective

(Newser) - Scientists have made a major breakthrough in the fight against Ebola, developing a new synthetic vaccine that successfully protected 80% of the mice into which it was injected. More importantly, the new vaccine can be dried down and frozen for storage, the BBC reports; past Ebola vaccines have used real...

New Mass Producer of America's Meth: Mexico

6.2 tons seized at border last year

(Newser) - Once the province of domestic drug makers, much of the methamphetamine coursing through the US now originates in Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reports. Through the first half of the year, Mexico’s military found 103 meth labs, 25% more than last year, when a record 6.2 tons of...

Hot at the Naval Academy: Synthetic Pot
Hot at the Naval Academy:
Synthetic Pot
say midshipmen
Feb 28, 2011 4:34 PM CST

Hot at the Naval Academy: Synthetic Pot

Drug tests don't detect it, say current, ex-midshipmen

(Newser) - So-called synthetic marijuana is widely smoked at the US Naval Academy, say some midshipmen who were kicked out of the Academy for using it. The drug appeared on the campus last year and quickly grew in popularity due to the fact that it cannot be detected in routine urine tests,...

Teens High on Scary 'Man-Made Marijuana'

Mystery ingredients give health officials the willies

(Newser) - A new synthetic substance that mimics the high of marijuana—and is legal—has American teenagers buzzing. But the herb-based substance, known as K2 or Spice, is giving health authorities the willies because its ingredients and effects are largely unknown. It's made in Asia and sold online and in some...

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