FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DESIGNER DRUGS
WHERE DO THEY COME FROM AND WHAT DO WE DO WITH THEM?
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, September 27, 2012: “Spice,” “K-2”, “Bath Salts,” and literally hundreds of other names. Ecstasy was one of the first, coming onto the streets in the early 1980s. Over the last two years they have multiplied and can be found on school campuses across the country.
They are sold online, in smoke shops and gas stations. As fast as federal, state and local governments outlaw a chemical formulation, it is slightly altered and back on the streets. Because of their constantly changing formulation, they are extremely difficult to detect and identify in toxicology labs. And they are seriously harming people of all ages, causing death by overdoes and by erratic behavior by the users. The various “cannibal attacks” described in the media over the past year are ascribed to the use of designer drugs.
In 2008, according to the most recent records of the Drug Awareness and Warning Network, 17,865 persons in the US were admitted to hospital emergency rooms related to the use of ecstasy. In 2010, poison control centers responded to roughly 3,200 calls related to other designer drugs. In 2011, that number jumped to more than 13,000 calls. The majority involved persons aged 25 years or younger, according to the DEA.
The number of calls to poison centers concerning "bath salts" rose from 304 in 2010 to 6,138 in 2011, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
In June of 2012 Florida Attorney General Pam Biondi and Governor Rick Scott ushered through the Legislature and enacted a new law which prohibits and makes illegal 90 “new types” of synthetic drugs.
Federal legislation was passed in 2011 outlawing five compounds and again in July this year President Obama signed a law banning the sale of 31 compounds used in the synthetic drugs
Using the new federal law, in July the first-ever joint federal and state task force conducted raids and arrests of underground labs and distribution networks executing 265 search warrants in 90 cities in 30 States.
During the operation 48 search warrants were executed in ten Florida cities including West Palm Beach, Tampa, and St. Petersburg, and Gainesville. Florida was a focal point of the operation which resulted in 90 arrests, the seizure of more than $60 million in cash, over 3.5 million packets of synthetic drugs, thousands of kilograms of raw chemicals, 17 firearms and assorted vehicles.
Despite the increased activity on the part of law enforcement, they are severely hampered by the underground labs which just slightly change the chemical nature of the drug to skirt each new law as it is passed. Law Enforcement officials generally agree the that best attack on the problem is through education, so that youth are not drawn to experiment with these potentially damaging and even fatal drug concoctions in the first place.
For information on the origins of these drugs and and their effects, the Foundation for a Drug Free World sponsors a massive campaign to truly education people of all ages, but particular the young, of the dangers of drugs of abuse.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free. For more information go to www.drugfreeworld.org
And for the person with a drug problem, there are real solutions to addiction. Narconon, a drug rehabilitation program that utilizes the methods of L. Ron Hubbard, has a success rate of more than 75% (www.narconon.org).
The best solution, however, is not to begin using drugs in the first place.
DESIGNER DRUGS
WHERE DO THEY COME FROM AND WHAT DO WE DO WITH THEM?
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, September 27, 2012: “Spice,” “K-2”, “Bath Salts,” and literally hundreds of other names. Ecstasy was one of the first, coming onto the streets in the early 1980s. Over the last two years they have multiplied and can be found on school campuses across the country.
They are sold online, in smoke shops and gas stations. As fast as federal, state and local governments outlaw a chemical formulation, it is slightly altered and back on the streets. Because of their constantly changing formulation, they are extremely difficult to detect and identify in toxicology labs. And they are seriously harming people of all ages, causing death by overdoes and by erratic behavior by the users. The various “cannibal attacks” described in the media over the past year are ascribed to the use of designer drugs.
In 2008, according to the most recent records of the Drug Awareness and Warning Network, 17,865 persons in the US were admitted to hospital emergency rooms related to the use of ecstasy. In 2010, poison control centers responded to roughly 3,200 calls related to other designer drugs. In 2011, that number jumped to more than 13,000 calls. The majority involved persons aged 25 years or younger, according to the DEA.
The number of calls to poison centers concerning "bath salts" rose from 304 in 2010 to 6,138 in 2011, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
In June of 2012 Florida Attorney General Pam Biondi and Governor Rick Scott ushered through the Legislature and enacted a new law which prohibits and makes illegal 90 “new types” of synthetic drugs.
Federal legislation was passed in 2011 outlawing five compounds and again in July this year President Obama signed a law banning the sale of 31 compounds used in the synthetic drugs
Using the new federal law, in July the first-ever joint federal and state task force conducted raids and arrests of underground labs and distribution networks executing 265 search warrants in 90 cities in 30 States.
During the operation 48 search warrants were executed in ten Florida cities including West Palm Beach, Tampa, and St. Petersburg, and Gainesville. Florida was a focal point of the operation which resulted in 90 arrests, the seizure of more than $60 million in cash, over 3.5 million packets of synthetic drugs, thousands of kilograms of raw chemicals, 17 firearms and assorted vehicles.
Despite the increased activity on the part of law enforcement, they are severely hampered by the underground labs which just slightly change the chemical nature of the drug to skirt each new law as it is passed. Law Enforcement officials generally agree the that best attack on the problem is through education, so that youth are not drawn to experiment with these potentially damaging and even fatal drug concoctions in the first place.
For information on the origins of these drugs and and their effects, the Foundation for a Drug Free World sponsors a massive campaign to truly education people of all ages, but particular the young, of the dangers of drugs of abuse.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free. For more information go to www.drugfreeworld.org
And for the person with a drug problem, there are real solutions to addiction. Narconon, a drug rehabilitation program that utilizes the methods of L. Ron Hubbard, has a success rate of more than 75% (www.narconon.org).
The best solution, however, is not to begin using drugs in the first place.