Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Synthetic Drugs, also known as Designer Drugs

As the classic question goes: Which do you want first—the good news or the bad news?
The topic for today is Synthetic drugs, also known as designer drugs, and the good news, which comes from the American Association of Poison Control Centers, is that human exposure to bath salts is down. And the bad news…well, which one of the bad news reports do you want first?

~ Kids (and some adults) are still taking them and dying from them.
~ Despite new laws designed to criminalize synthetic drugs, the manufacturers keep changing the formulas to get around the laws and keep their poisonous substances technically legal. (The irony of the similarity in sound between “legal” and “lethal” has not escaped us.)
~ The paranoia brought on by synthetic marijuana is far more intense than that brought on by natural marijuana.
~ Kids continue to be deluded by the availability (and technical legality) of synthetic drugs into thinking that if they’re openly sold in such commonplace venues as gas stations, it must be OK to take them.
The reality, of course, is something far different.
Synthetic drugs are designed to act very much like the drugs they mimic, but if you think natural marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs are dangerous, they have nothing on the dangers in their synthetic counterparts. While marijuana, cocaine, and other such drugs are, at least, natural substances, K2, Spice, bath salts, and other designer drugs are laced with chemicals that can be highly toxic—and deadly in far too many cases.
Dr. Marilyn A. Huestis, a research scientist with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says of synthetic or designer drugs, “They are much more potent than the drugs that they mimic, so we have much more deaths and adverse effects…. It’s a major problem.”
According to the DEA, there are now more than 300 synthetic drugs that have been identified…and there are likely plenty more to come.
If you suspect your teenager (or anyone else you care about) is using synthetic drugs, get in touch with us for help. Go to http://www.blisstreatment.com/ or call 844-84BLISS. We’re ready to help you.

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