Image via Complex Original
K2, Spice, Blaze—whatever you want to call it, synthetic marijuana isn't something you should play around with. There were plenty of valid reasons behind New York banning the drug this past spring, with the most obvious being the health risks it presents, particularly to young people. Synthetic marijuana has become popular because, for the most, it has been easy—and legal—to obtain. It won't make you fail a drug test, but it's not worth the gamble you're taking when you light up. Educate yourself here.
Written by Julian Kimble (@JRK316).
Confusion
Excessive hits of synthetic weed will leave make you the worst type of dazed and confused. Synthetic marijuana might be the only drug that leaves both patients and doctors confused. Confusion is one of the drug’s side effects and doctors are confused about how to recognize and diagnose incidents involving the drug, which rarely end well.
Increased Blood Pressure
A spike in blood pressure is common when using fake grass. Physicians from Children’s National Medical Center is Washington D.C. presented their findings from a case study involving three teenagers who were rushed to the emergency room after smoking synthetic marijuana. Of the several ailments the teens suffered, high blood pressure was one of them.
These are otherwise healthy teenagers, by the way.
Convulsions
Never smoke anything that will make you Harlem Shake—with pain. Another one of synthetic marijuana’s less amusing after-effects is convulsions. Scared yet?
Acute Anxiety
Many people smoke weed to relieve anxiety, not bury themselves with it. Becoming frighteningly anxious is another one of the many ugly side effects that comes along with smoking synthetic. Last June, college student Max Dobner had an anxiety attack after smoking synthetic marijuana in Kentucky, then got into his car and crashed through a home while driving 100 miles per hour, killing himself.
Rage
A positive drug experience should not alter your mood for the worse. Unfortuantely, you can smoke synthetic and, before you know it, you’re running around town completely naked, screaming at passing vehicles and beating the shit out of strangers. That’s what happened to a 27-year-old man in Indianapolis over the summer. Cops had to pull out the stun guns to stop him. The problem is, the stun guns didn’t stop him.
Anything potent enough to make you endure abuse without feeling any pain (for the moment) is not something you want to experience. Synthetic weed leads to actual rage, which will land you in actual jail.
Vomiting
Not only is this stuff bad for you, it will make you feel horrible. Why would you want to smoke anything that’s going to make you vomit, possibly uncontrollably? There’s nothing fun about cleaning up your own vomit—especially when you’re coming down from a trip. That hungover, morning-after clean-up is always the worst. You don’t need a synthetic marijuana vomiting experience to compare it to.
Hallucinations
It’s a safe bet to abstain from using anything that alters your state of mind to the point that you can no longer tell what’s real. That’s precisely what happened to a man in Florida recently. After puffing on K2, the man called 911 to babble about how everything that happened in his dream was happening in real life. Did he dream about going to jail? That’s where he ended up.
Another man (also from Florida) had to be hospitalized after police found him running naked around his apartment complex after lickin' off shots with his Glock inside of his pad.
Both cases are worse than Smokey hiding in Deebo’s chicken coup in his underwear after smoking dust.
Experiencing a Psychotic Episode
It’s no bueno to have absolutely zero control over yourself and your actions, so one major reason to refrain from smoking synthetic is that you might flip out and become a news story. It’s been well-documented that synthetic marijuana can trigger psychosis that lasts for months. One extreme case from over the summer found a 22-year-old man in Texas who began barking like a dog in a non-DMX fashion before chasing his family and neighbors. And then he went toe-to-toe with the family’s actual dog.
If it brings out the beast in you, just say no.
Withdrawal
Please don’t smoke anything that will turn you into a fiend. You are not supposed to experience withdrawal symptoms while smoking marijuana, and if it is a well-publicized side effect of synthetic marijuana, we can’t imagine why anyone would want to dabble in it. New Jack City did an effective job of highlighting the struggle that is withdrawal (R.I.P Pookie), and that dealt with crack. Do yourself a huge favor and don’t become a synthetic marijuana case. Remember: you can’t suffer from withdrawal if you don’t smoke it in the first place.
Plus, it's on the FBI's radar.
Heart Attacks
The best reason to say no to synthetic marijuana is that it could actually kill you. One of the drug’s dangerous side effects is an increased risk of heart attack. Smoking marijuana has been known to mess with one's heart rate, but synthetic marijuana has a more pronounced affect.
Last year, three healthy teens in Texas appear to have suffered heart attacks after smoking K2. You ever witness someone trip so bad that they complain about “feeling like they’re going to die?” Well, it’s not a joke with synthetic weed. Each one of the teenagers recovered, but is this stuff really worth your life?
Don't smoke the killer weed, kids.