The number of synthetic marijuana-related hospital admissions continues to climb, although a recent “spice” lab bust could lessen future hospital visits in the area, officials said.
Stat health officials said 97 cases of people being sickened by the drug have been reported to the Mississippi Poison Control Center since April 2. More than 20 counties throughout the state, including Pike and Lincoln have experienced a surge in hospital visits related to the drug, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health.
As of Friday, Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center had seen at least 10 other instances of admissions in the past week, emergency room physician Dr. Brett Ferman said.
Additionally, SMRMC officials said the hospital reported three patient admissions to the Mississippi Poison Control Center last weekend.
On Thursday and Friday, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents shut down an alleged drug lab in a Jackson apartment complex.
Drug agents found more than 200,000 packages of spice at the lab, along with the chemicals used to create the drug. They estimate the street value of the drugs to be about $8 million, making it one of the largest synthetic marijuana busts in state history.
Earlier in the week, MBN director Sam Owens said it would not come as a surprise if the brand of spice that has led to the Jackson hospital admissions came from the same batch that has hospitalized users.
While Ferman said hospital staff has seen symptoms of the drug since it first came on the scene, lately the severity and the volume of cases has increased.“It can be a fatal thing,” he said. “We’ve seen people suffer liver damage and put on ventilators. In the past, the main symptoms were gastrointestinal stuff, and some of the paranoia symptoms. We’ve never seen it quite as bad as we’re seeing now, however.”
While the short-term consequences have become obvious, Ferman said there’s no way to know what kind of effect the drug will have on a user down the road.
“There could be far-reaching ramifications. Right now, health care providers can’t tell you what will happen in the long-term,” he said.
Ferman also noted hospital staff and law enforcement have developed ways to track the drug in someone’s system, and users should no longer assume the drug can’t be detected.
At one point, officials couldn’t determine the chemical components of synthetic marijuana — one of the reasons users took the drug.
“As cases like these occur, new technology comes along that helps us do our job. That’s the case now. We can find out,” he said.
Ferman said the surge of cases has endangered staff as well since law enforcement is needed to assist in many cases.
“There can’t be enough publicity and education about this,” he said. “These are the cases we see, and sometimes we wish there was away to get the message out there about how dangerous it is.”
Pike County Chief Sheriff’s Investigator Lance Falvey said he has seen a surge in the popularity of spice since the use of illicit and illegal “bath salts” subsided, he said.
“People seem to have an ‘it can’t happen to me’ belief,” he said. “They should know what we’ve seen recently, well, that it can happen to you. It can happen to anyone who takes it.”
