In the fight against addiction, many drug rehabilitation programs are facing a new and evolving challenge in the form of so called ‘designer’ drugs. The term comes from the fact these new drugs are specifically designed to circumvent current United States drug laws. These drugs are not limited to the more commonly known K2/Spice substances, which are essentially synthetic marijuana. They include the more increasingly known ‘bath salts’, which mimic amphetamine and methamphetamine but also newer ones such as Kratom, which has properties of both opium and cocaine and a group collectively known as Fentanyls, which mimic heroin, except extremely more potent (an active dose is 100 micro grams, equal to about .0017 percent the weight of a postage stamp).
Part of the allure of these designer drugs is that most often, they are technically not illegal. Chemists alter certain strains of a plant or chemical or add or remove one, and thus the substance no longer falls under the classification of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) or state guidelines, or is marketed as being incense (Spice/K2) or as ‘not safe for human consumption’ (bath salts). Often, states and the federal government are slow to enact measures to combat these new drugs. This is not simply due to bureaucracy being slow by nature; rather, most politicians and agencies (and even the general public) are unaware of these substances’ existence until they become popular and/or their adverse effects and roles in fatalities becomes common, widespread knowledge. Steps are being taken as more state governments enact legislation specifically banning these substances and their derivatives. Even as drug rehabilitation programs and other varied educational tools work to inform the public about these dangerous drugs, still today in many locales such as head shops and convenience stores they are sold openly, which often tricks unassuming customers into thinking these items are somehow ‘safe’, which they most definitely are not.
The thing that makes designer drugs the most endearing is the thing that also makes them quite dangerous. The chemicals used to create a high similar to that of an illicit street drug are often volatile, unstable, and not to mention highly toxic. While it is not all too uncommon to hear of a clandestine methamphetamine lab explosion, the same risks are at stake with designer drug laboratories. Designer drugs typically require a more skilled chemist to create them, but more skill does not mean less danger. One example is a mistake made by a chemist working with an opiod analgesic. The problem didn’t become known until people started using it intravenously; users thought they had purchased ‘China White’ – a very pure form of heroin, but in reality they received MPTP. MPTP is a neurotoxin produced from the synthesis of heroin that is easily fatal, and causes the onset of Parkinson’s, a paralyzing neurological disease.
As designer drugs attempt to hide behind the front of adolescent marketing and mundane warnings, it is becoming more and more clear that these drugs are just as dangerous as illicit street drugs, if not more so. Their thin veil of being ‘legal’ is beginning to disappear, along with any notion they might be safe. The only true safety when it comes to these substances is to not try or use them at all, and if one is dependent upon one of these, or any substance, to find a solid drug rehabilitation program such as The Freedom Center and get help. They can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-877-362-9682.