South Brunswick Police, Health Officials Issue Warning About Synthetic Marijuana

Health officials have issued a warning about life-threatening reactions caused by the use of synthetic marijuana, often called spice and k2, South Brunswick police said.

According to an advisory from South Brunswick police:

On Tuesday South Brunswick police and EMS were called to a home because a 22-year-old woman was convulsing and vomiting. When officers arrived, she was lying on the ground shaking uncontrollably, and her friends told police she had been smoking synthetic marijuana.

Members of the Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad took her Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for treatment.

But police say, in the last week, about 30 people in New Jersey have been hospitalized because of use of the drug, and the number of hospitalizations in New York has been higher.

The New Jersey Poison Information and Education System and state health officials have issued a warning about synthetic marijuana.

Police said they do not know what substances are contained in the drug, but it has caused life-threatening reactions, including severe agitation, seizures, and renal failure.

In Lehigh County, Pennsylvania more than 39 cases were been reported in the last week. At least one patient there had to be intubated, according to the advisory from police. In some cases users have acted aggressively toward police and emergency medical services personnel. For more information, contact a poison expert at 800-222-1222.