Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams yesterday joined with a recovering drug addict and city officials to both warn the public of the dangers of k2, a chemical spayed on plants and sold in local bodegas as synthetic marijuana, and to advocate for stronger legislative measures to make the drug illegal.
“This is not a recreational drug. It can lead to aggressive and violent nature. People that believe they are smoking a joint can wind up in the joint,” said Adams. “This is not a plant. This is not marijuana. This is a dangerous chemical that is being used to distort the behavior of everyday Brooklynites, and it’s something that we want to see off our streets immediately. We need the help from government and everyday Brooklynites to move this conversation forward.”
Adams strongly advised residents to call 311 and report any stores selling or possessing K2. The drug has been sold in bodegas, smoke shops, and online for less than ten dollars a packet, wrapped in colorful packaging that may refer to it by one of its other many street names; additional monikers that have been used include, but are not limited to, AK-47, Bliss, Crazy Monkey, Fake Weed, Green Giant, Mr. Nice Guy, Scooby Snax, Spice, Wet Lucy, and Zohai.
While it is known as “synthetic marijuana”, it is not made from the marijuana plant and is not natural; K2 is comprised of dried, shredded plant material with the appearance of potpourri that has been sprayed with mind-altering chemical compounds.
Effects of K2 usage include, but are not limited to, anxiety, hallucinations, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, loss of consciousness, paranoia, sedation, seizures, and vomiting; craving and withdrawal are additional risks for regular users.
Adams noted the increase of late in local use, including in Central Brooklyn.
Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant has recently seen a spike of three to six related emergency room visits a day. Males account for 90% of citywide visits to emergency rooms, with the median age of patients being 37 years old.
Among those joining Adams to decry K2 was Della Ellis, a 53-year-old recovering K2 drug addict who has been clean for the past eight months.
“K2 is very dangerous to your life. From my experience, it’s not worth losing your life,” said Ellis. “If you are on it, stop and seek help; there is support out there for you.”
Adams also urged the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to use their emergency scheduling authority under the Controlled Substances Act to add synthetic marijuana to the controlled substances list, banning any and all chemical combinations that are analogous to K2.
Additionally, he called on Congress to support Senator Charles Schumer’s legislation that would make it illegal to import alternative hazardous synthetic drugs for human consumption and would establish an inter-agency committee of scientists and the DEA responsible for the establishment and maintenance of an administrative list of controlled substance equivalents.
Adams additionally called on the state to pass legislation that would make selling more than 25 grams of the drug a felony punishable by up to five years in jail. Businesses that sell the drug would also face increased fines and could be stripped of their alcohol, cigarette and lottery licenses.
Locally, Adams welcomed the news that the City Council would be introducing legislation to increase penalties against store owners selling K2 by increasing fines, potentially jailing dealers, and taking away privileges like selling cigarettes.
