K2 Spice?

[everthesame, LPN, LVN]

Have any of you ever dealt with someone who has taken k2 spice? I never heard of it until about a week ago. One of the offenders (I work in a prison) was talking about it. Then, early this morning I got a call from my daughter. She was talking to a friend who lives in another state and the friend had tried this stuff and was freaking out. He was sure he was dying, said his heart was racing...it sounded to me (third hand info from upset daughter) that he was having a really bad panic attack. He called my daughter because he knows I am a nurse and wanted to know what to do. Of course, I told him to go to the ER and my daughter believes he is there now.

Anyway, I was curious about how prevalent the use of k2 spice is and how you handle an overdose or bad reaction to it. As I said, I work in a prison but some of our offenders are in the work release program. I did read that this stuff does not show up in a urine drug screen so I know it is just a matter of time until we see someone come back from work high on this stuff. We get enough folks who flunk their random UDS knowing what they are using will show up. I can only imagine how popular this still legal "herb" will be when they find out it won't show on the UDS but will get them high.

[GilaRRT]

It's basically synthetic pot. One of the active ingredients has about 10 times the affinity for the receptor. Therefore, smaller doses will result in potent effects when compared to the traditional pot exposure.

[BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I've seen several people in our ER after smoking this stuff. The sx you've described are typical, along with some pretty impressive respitory problems. We had a quick inservice on it, and were told that it isn't a "spice" or an "herb". We were told it is a purely synthetic product, designed to be used as a potpourri. I haven't really done any research myself. BTW, it is now illegal where I live.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2010/02/k2_spice_jwh018_marijuana.php

Cannibis Satvia......Several state have made the substance illegal. It is a herbal substance sold as a plant dried to smoke or incense. It was developed by Prof John w. Huffman at Clemson University. Also known as JWH-18 it is said to be like a "synthetic substance" and can be bought on the internet and grown at home.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Addendum..........it is the Satvia plant sprayed with the chemical JWH-18 sorry....... :-)

[bridezillatobe]

It's all over the news, they did a story about it and all the local stores said that they had sold out of it, it's very dangerous as you have found out, and it's being called legal pot...

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

It hasn't been outlawed here yet, but there is a "voluntary recall" in the stores/gas stations/etc who sell it.

[everthesame, LPN, LVN]

RN-Cardiac, what kind of respiratory symptoms?

[BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I've seen wheezing,.low sats,..similar to chemical inhalation. The quick in service we had compared it to soaking a cigarette in potpourri oil then smoking it.