After More Kids are Hospitalized, Officials Take Rare Step to Combat Synthetic Drug

Among the side effects of synthetic marijuana are suicidal thinking and behavior, say public health officials in Wayne and Macomb counties. (Photo via Shutterstock)

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Two more area high school students have been hospitalized after using a synthetic drug known as “Cloud 9” and “Hookah Relax,”prompting public health officials in Warren and Wayne counties to issue rare “imminent danger” warnings about their use.

Sold as air fresheners, the synthetics are “absolutely deadly,” Westland Police Chief Jeff Jedrusik told WJBK, Channel 2. “Some kids are sprinkling it in marijuana and smoking it with marijuana, some are putting it in their e-cigarettes, and now the trend is to put it in energy drinks.”

Two students at John Glenn High School in Westland were hospitalized Monday after using the synthetic marijuana. Earlier this month, four students at Salem High School in Canton were treated after using Cloud 9.

The synthetic drug is easily obtained by minors at gas stations and convenience stores for about $20. Westland police conducted a sweep of more than 100 smoke shops, party stores and gas stations to determine if they were selling the compound which Jedrusik said causes those who use it to become seriously ill and have “near-death experiences.”

Among the side effects are symptoms that mimic a heart attack, including chest pain and a quickening pulse rate; high blood pressure; hallucinations; paranoia; agitation; and thoughts of suicide.

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The problem with the crackdown on synthetic drugs is that street chemists move quickly to rebrand the compounds once they’re legislatively banned. For example, Cloud 9 was banned, but the recipe was tweaked slightly and rebranded under the Hookah Relax name. “What’s happening, I want to call them garage chemists, they’re changing up the compound a little bit,” Jedrusik says. “They’re changing the name and they’re selling it again.”

The Wayne County “imminent danger” warning reinforces a 2012 public health order on previously banned synthetics, commonly known as “K2,” “Spice” and bath salts, according to a press release. The warning states:

“...All persons in the Wayne County Health Department jurisdiction that includes the 42 Wayne County communities outside of Detroit are immediately ordered to cease selling, trading, giving, bartering, serving, providing otherwise making available such substances.”

Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, Wayne County health officer and chief of health operations, emphasized the significance of the public health order, and said the county’s environmental health staff will conduct random inspections of Wayne County retailers which sell tobacco products. Businesses selling these substances will be immediately ordered to stop selling the products and could face legal action.

“Due to recent, local reports of increased incidences of psychotic episodes with these two specific products, this order is being issued for the health and well-being of the community and Wayne County residents,” Hammami said.

In Macomb County, Mark Hackel, the county executive, and William Ridella, the county health department director, also signed an emergency order declaring the Cloud 9 and Hookah Relax substance “an imminent danger” to the health of county residents.

The mad scientists are back at it,” Hackel told The Macomb Daily, echoing the frustration expressed by Wayne County officials about keeping track of the various iterations of the synthetic. “It’s back in a different form.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration has classified synthetic cannabinoids of this type into the Schedule I category of drugs. Schedule 1 drugs have the following characteristics:

• The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
• The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
• There is a lack of acceptable safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.