Social Anybody Else Noticing Spice Issues?

[Esperighanto]

Hey guys,

I live in a city in the Northeastern US right now where I literally can't go a night without hearing somebody scream like they're going super saiyan, and act like they've got clinical lycanthropy after smoking sketchy joints laced with synthetic cannabinoids. It almost exclusively affects the homeless population, and while some of these incidents have been jovial, such as watching a man savagely beat a "No Parking" sign using a child sized bike as his weapon of choice, to the man who delusionally broke the window over my head as I slept one night.

I bought and tried some of this shit and it's wicked powerful but I suspect that what's causing this issue is the confluence of hitting a spice hotspot along with poor mental health due to homelessness.

Last night I was walking my boyfriend home from work, a distance of just single block, and we were warned not to leave the building because of a "spice zombie" who had been repeatedly shrieking nonsense, undressing and redressing, performing this odd hunched dance and stumbling/falling all over the street and sidewalk, circling the building we were in (bf's place of work). I've interfaced with these people long enough to know that they don't really know what's going on around them and for the most part aren't a threat, but I'm posting this to ask if anybody else, whether in the northeastern US or not, has noticed a huge spike in spice usage over the past few years and the issues that are associated with it?

Edit: I just realized that this may belong in the Other Drugs forum instead of the Cannabis forum, my apologies if that's the case.

 

[Madness]

Yes. Especially among the homeless population like you said.

I can take two big drags of spice/K2, hold it, and be pretty out of my mind. I'd say 50% of the time it was pretty uncomfortable. And id never smoke a whole joint to myself.

Had to call an ambulance for my friend once because he couldn't speak and was foaming at the mouth. Another time he passed out on the bus with me. Have heard stories from in person friends about people doing very uncharacteristic things.

The "base" used can be almost anything and every bag can vary in how it effects us.

However I've never (to my knowledge) smoked a joint laced with K2. That doesn't mean people do that. It's a bit cheaper than weed. Actually much cheaper now that I remember the exact pricing.

 

[Esperighanto]

Yes. Especially among the homeless population like you said.

I can take two big drags of spice/K2, hold it, and be pretty out of my mind. I'd say 50% of the time it was pretty uncomfortable. And id never smoke a whole joint to myself.

Had to call an ambulance for my friend once because he couldn't speak and was foaming at the mouth. Another time he passed out on the bus with me. Have heard stories from in person friends about people doing very uncharacteristic things.

The "base" used can be almost anything and every bag can vary in how it effects us.

However I've never (to my knowledge) smoked a joint laced with K2. That doesn't mean people do that. It's a bit cheaper than weed. Actually much cheaper now that I remember the exact pricing.

The ratio of dollar to potency is definitely highest with spice in my personal experience too, can I ask what region of the world you noticed this in? I'm assuming also in the US due to the Spice/K2 branding.

I'm mostly just shocked that I'm not hearing more about this from other areas, I suppose.

 

[Madness]

Boston area

 

[Esperighanto]

Boston area

I'm also within a ~3 hour drive of Boston. Hope this summer won't be as "Spicey" (wordplay intended) as past ones, it's damn near chased me out of living in urban areas because the only areas I can afford are pretty cursed by this.

Thank you for the info on this @Madness !

 

[Madness]

Oh I had no idea it spread to connecticut/new Hampshire/Vermont/western MA?

I mean why not.

For what it's worth, I first tried spice in Indiana in 2011. So, I'm very curious if anyone else knows about its prevalence.

 

[Esperighanto]

Oh I had no idea it spread to connecticut/new Hampshire/Vermont/western MA?

I mean why not.

For what it's worth, I first tried spice in Indiana in 2011. So, I'm very curious if anyone else knows about its prevalence.

Maine I can personally vouch for as well, the homeless population is stuck in a pretty vicious cycle right now between the insane accessibility of "dope" (currently onto zenes and past fent here), meth and spice. I'm much more comfortable watching somebody smoke a rock or some ice on my block than just a common joint because it's so much more likely to be spice than otherwise in this neighborhood there's a high chance of an "episode" occurring.

 

[Psychlone Jack]

I'm not aware of any surge or prevalence on the street (Southeast US), but just coming home from a pretty lengthy prison bid this time last year, it is and has been a huge problem in there for years. People dissolve the active compound(s) in acetone or whatever and spray it on thick-stock paper and mail it in, sold in little tiny, tiny, slivers or postage-stamp size blocks, one of which will have you obliterated for at least a whole day, smoking one tiny fleck at a time. The craziest thing I saw (and did lol) was a "wire hit" where you'd take a piece of the K2 paper, wrap it in a length of stripped, burnt copper headphone wire, tightly like you're wrapping a coil for a magnet, with a few inches of wire hanging on either end. Scratch a hole in the label on the negative-terminal-end side of the battery, touch one end of the wire there and the other to the negative terminal, and the wire instantly glows and combusts the paper while you hit it with a straw.

And if you disrespected it, then it might disrespect you back.

Awful drug, especially during the pandemic when everyone was on lockdown, no one could see family, everyone addressed the stress with drugs, mainly K2, and the end result was zombies, raving lunatics and vomit factories everywhere, with a bunch of people doing shady shit so they can get in that condition.

 

[Esperighanto]

I'm not aware of any surge or prevalence on the street (Southeast US), but just coming home from a pretty lengthy prison bid this time last year, it is and has been a huge problem in there for years. People dissolve the active compound(s) in acetone or whatever and spray it on thick-stock paper and mail it in, sold in little tiny, tiny, slivers or postage-stamp size blocks, one of which will have you obliterated for at least a whole day, smoking one tiny fleck at a time. The craziest thing I saw (and did lol) was a "wire hit" where you'd take a piece of the K2 paper, wrap it in a length of stripped, burnt copper headphone wire, tightly like you're wrapping a coil for a magnet, with a few inches of wire hanging on either end. Scratch a hole in the label on the negative-terminal-end side of the battery, touch one end of the wire there and the other to the negative terminal, and the wire instantly glows and combusts the paper while you hit it with a straw.

And if you disrespected it, then it might disrespect you back.

Awful drug, especially during the pandemic when everyone was on lockdown, no one could see family, everyone addressed the stress with drugs, mainly K2, and the end result was zombies, raving lunatics and vomit factories everywhere, with a bunch of people doing shady shit so they can get in that condition.

It definitely has a devious edge to it, I think it's just the nature of hotspots in hyperpotent drugs. MDMB-4en-PINACA is active in the hundreds of micrograms, catching a hotspot means only a couple of milligrams potentially causing somebody to freak out. It sucks, I'm sure it they had access to a safer product this issue wouldn't exist in the first place.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Its sad because there are lots of synthetic cannabinoids that are not super potent. And with reasonaable legs.

They take advantage of a group that has no choice then to buy their ´blend'. I once had a disaster from tiny bit of such an blend from the UK, a freebee that turned in not only my baddest trip.
Also in front of my grandma. That stuff was pure torture and I even had weed. Justed wanted to try it. lessson learned.

But while I no longer using synthetic's the plague still continue's. Black mamba documentry was also like OP described. Also homeless bottom of the pit people.

 

[Jibult]

Oh I had no idea it spread to connecticut/new Hampshire/Vermont/western MA?

I mean why not.

For what it's worth, I first tried spice in Indiana in 2011. So, I'm very curious if anyone else knows about its prevalence.

In my experience, Spice/K2 becomes predominant in communities centered around detention centers and, more notably, prisons.

I might be putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5, but I don't ever hear ANY civilians talk about spice/k2 (is K2 even around anymore?)-- it's always folks on parole/probation, or fresh out and nervous about getting real weed for whatever reason.


To be fair, I'm basing that off of my own experiences around Cumberland, MD (old mining town that basically runs on prison profits and nothing else these days) and Hagerstown, MD. Hagerstown's got a bit more going for it but it's the only other place where spice seemed popular and highly sought-after, and MCI-H is a pretty large facility. It's by no means the largest employer around but it's a big'n.

I'm curious if Baltimore even gives it time of day, though. I don't have much experience with that city but it just seems like they would wholly reject spice at every opportunity.

 

[gordonliddy]

They worked pretty hard to ban K2 at one point in NYC. ...I'd argue that this was more or less effective. I have no idea what street people are using in NYC these days, but the last time that I got a serious look at it (think COVID-era) it looked like fentadope.

 

[Jen X]

I've never seen it. Maybe because Canada has weed everywhere or maybe I'm old.
Doesn't sound fun

 

[Jen X]

They worked pretty hard to ban K2 at one point in NYC. ...I'd argue that this was more or less effective. I have no idea what street people are using in NYC these days, but the last time that I got a serious look at it (think COVID-era) it looked like fentadope.

Xylazine makes people act really weird. Jerking movements and yelling at things. Pretty much all street fentanyl has it. I wonder if that could be causing strange behavior as well

 

[jasperkent]

Chattanooga---
Spice/K2 or "any imitation controlled substance or controlled substance analogue" have been illegal here in Tennessee (and nearby Georgia) since 2012, so we don't see it sold in stores.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's not around-- but frankly I never knew anyone who used it or heard of any problems with it.

 

[gordonliddy]

Xylazine makes people act really weird. Jerking movements and yelling at things. Pretty much all street fentanyl has it. I wonder if that could be causing strange behavior as well

No, this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Walking around the Bowery in the middle of COVID, you'd pass a row of strung out j* and they fit that exact description. Crazy.

 

[Keif' Richards]

This is crazy that you guys are talking about Boston right now. I guess it's really not though. You guys are probably aware that I'm from Lowell originally. I've been up in Burlington, VT for a while now though. In Burlington, synthetic Cannabinoids are non-existent. Even the most beat of our bums will smoke real Cannabis.

I can picture the cheap allure of spice working well on Massachusetts Avenue or the "Methadone Mile". I've only smoked Spice 3 times in my life and those 3 times were all in the same 24 hour period from the same single gram of whatever Cannabinoid I bought. I found the experience to be highly distressing and unenjoyable. The final "hit" I took left me nearly comatose and I came to with my family trying to wake me frantically. Basically, it was such a "non-weed" experience that I couldn't believe they associated Cannabis with these chemicals.

This is years' old at this point, but I've seen multiple documentaries focusing on the issue. Again, it seems like this stuff really takes hold in the lowest of the low in terms of economic situations. I think with enough homeless people and a big enough market, it's feasible to have a market for this sort of thing. I know you can buy the stuff for like $100/thousands of dosages if you get the stuff from China or whatever.

The really distressing thing about the synthetic Cannabinoids is that a lot of these users described clear effects resembling Opioid/Benzodiazepine dependence, in which they would be violently ill in between usages. These people were genuinely ill and functioning like a severe Alcoholic would be without Alcohol. This one documentary took place in Birmingham, UK and they were smoking something called "Black Mamba" and it went b "Mamba" by everyone on the street. We're all fighting for free and legal Heroin, can someone please for the love of God get these guys some real bud. It's a crime that these bums could be smoking God's medicine, but instead, they're smoking this insane chemical shit.

To extrapolate, I know that the synthetic Cannabinoids are popular in conservative areas of the country still. The thing is, we have relatively cheap weed even in Boston, including dispensaries where you can get a nice joint for 5 bucks if you get it on sale. I guess this is what surprises me about the spice being such an issue in Boston.

A moment of silence for our poor, spice-addicted brethren. May god visit them with a slice or even a THC vape cause this shit is criminal.

 

[Madness]

The thing is, we have relatively cheap weed even in Boston, including dispensaries where you can get a nice joint for 5 bucks if you get it on sale. I guess this is what surprises me about the spice being such an issue in Boston.

I don't think anyone in the homeless crowd (at least that I knew) would save their money for a decent amount of flower (or anything more than $20). Not sure the word on pre rolled joints - I've never tried one and when I did hear of them a while ago I didn't hear great things compared to flower.

I have smoked K2 with people on the street who preferred it to weed. As in, "got K2?" , "nah I got bud though" , "psht". I am under the impression that the intensity might be desired as well, on top of availability and price.