Woman Sent Synthetic 'K2' Drugs To MA Prisoners: Feds

MARLBOROUGH, MA — A 28-year-old Marlborough woman was sentenced Thursday for trafficking synthetic marijuana through prisons across the state, federal prosecutors said.

Caitlin Marcey was sentenced to two years of probation, with six months of that served in home confinement. She previously pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance in January.

According to prosecutors, Marcey sent paper soaked in synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or Spice, to prisoners. She was caught arranging to mail K2-soaked papers on a recorded call to the Souza Baranowksi Correctional Center in Lancaster in 2018, prosecutors said.

Marcey disguised the papers as legal mail, which is subject to less scrutiny than normal correspondence, prosecutors said.

K2 gained popularity as an unregulated alternative to marijuana about 10 years ago. The drug was later blamed for overdoses where users experienced rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation and hallucinations — and sometimes death.

The federal government outlawed synthetic drugs in 2012, and Massachusetts banned them in 2014. But sometimes drug manufacturers will change formulations to skirt state laws, which health expert believe raises the risk of health complications.