Quotes

This is a collection of quotes about synthetic marijuana.  These quotes are linked to the story where they occur and arranged in reverse-chronological order with the most recent first.

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 “Right now I think it (Spice or synthetic cannabinoids) is the most damaging substance we have out there,” Psychiatric consultant Dr. James Adams, who works at Christchurch’s Hillmorton Hospital, said.

“It’s gone from an occasional patient to a rough estimate 40% of people admitted with a psychosis,” he said.

 New Zealand 

 

“There is zero quality control,” FDLE Special Agent Supervisor David Gross said. “The user has a perception of a high they’re going to get … in reality it’s a crapshoot.”

Most of the products, he said, include industrial-grade chemicals that were never intended for human consumption, but since they are marketed as legal, people can buy them alongside a bag of chips.

The people with the most knowledge of who’s using the products are typically doctors and nurses in emergency rooms. They see patients with conditions such as uncontrollable temperature spikes that send them into organ failure or seizures, he said.

“We want to cut the head off the snake right away and that’s why we’re here today,” Bondi said to a standing room only crowd at the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. “We are at war … . (Synthetic drugs) are truly, truly deadly.”

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem issued the following statement to correct comments made by officials during a news conference held in Grand Forks yesterday concerning the recent deaths of two young people: 

“These deaths are not as a result of an isolated ‘bad batch’ of synthetic drugs. The Narcotics Task Forces and the state’s crime laboratory both determined that the substances involved in these incidents are chemically different. There is no such thing as a ‘good batch’ of synthetic drugs. All illicit drugs are inherently dangerous and potentially fatal.” 

“There’s not one 16- or 17-year-old kid that’s buying these substances to make their room smell better. They’re buying it to get high,” Gualtieri said.

After the tragic shooting death of Justin Blake Cleveland, 18.

“These products do not appear to have any legitimate therapeutic use and there is a developing international body of evidence and clinical experience that is showing harm related to use of these substances,” she said.

Australian Mental Health Minister, Helen Morton, in response to new ban on Synthetic Marijuana.

“They tell me they would never try cocaine or heroin because they are too dangerous, and yet they are willing to try these, which can be far worse.”

Christina Hantsch, head of toxicolcogy at the Loyola University Medical Center, on her conversations with users of Synthetic Marijuana.

2 Responses to Quotes

  1. gordon west says:
    January 22, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    what are the statistics of estimated production as a percentage of medical emergencies? I can’t seem to find any data? Do you have a good source you can point me to?

    Reply
    • tothemaximus says:
      January 22, 2013 at 5:30 pm

      It’s impossible to be able to ascertain reliable statistics regarding the number of medical emergencies in relation to production of synthetic drugs. First, the size of the industry can’t be accurately determined. Even when synthetic drugs were sold legally, most sales were not reported, receipts were not given and much of production didn’t generate tax revenues for the state. Second, many of those that were hospitalized report that they did not confess to their use of the drugs or were unable to communicate it at the time and chose not to share, after the fact. Finally, testing was unreliable at best. Synthetic drugs are not a part of standard drug tests and, until recently, have been much more expensive. So, unless there was specific knowledge of synthetic drug use, they weren’t ordered. Additionally, more often than not, synthetic drug dealers have continually switched to new chemicals as they were introduced to the market, in an attempt to avoid law enforcement and make their drugs more marketable, because drug tests have to be developed for the new chemicals as they enter the market. They are continually taking advantage of the lag in developing the new tests to detect the new chemicals on the market. For all of these reasons, we are in the unfortunate position of not being able to develop reliable statistics.

      Reply