RCs "Noids...Acute interventions and harm reduction?"

Dear Bluelighters,
I am working as a psychiatric nurse at a forensic psychiatry ward.
Recently we found out that a few patients were under the influence of synthetic cannabis ("potpourri")
After thorough searches we found some foil bags with " n-joy" written on it.
We live in a cannabis tolerant country, so we never really came across this kind of substances but due to the drug policy in this institution
patients started to use synthetic cannabis to avoid positive urine tests.

Advice is needed as it is emerging in institutions here in The Netherlands.

Are there any "noid specific interventions?
How should we treat noid OD properly?
Should we treat noid induced seizures the same way as " regular" epileptic seizures?
Are there any tests that our lab could run to detect noids in urine?



Thank you so much!!!!

There are definitely tests which detect those substances and I know because when I do a urine drop for my PM doc, one of the items it tests for is synthetic pot. I am able to see the test results (quite extensive!) on what they test for and my levels for the things I am currently taking. For the record, it's an expensive test and it's called a "Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)" test and it's capable of very minute levels of detection. Funny thing, I actually asked my doctor about it because I noted that the test did not look for "actual" pot. He told me they didn't test for it because if they did, they'd need close the clinic down! From that comment, I am deducing the clinic has a very soft stance on marijuana. Anyway, the long and short of things, is that there are tests which test for it and the down side is that it's expensive. I hoped this helps you some.

I'm an ex synthetic marijuana addict and have suffered/witnessed multiple cases of seizures and full blown psychosis.

The only thing me, my friends, and the hospital have ever found to actually help in the case of acute synthetic cannabinoid overdose is to administer a fast acting benzodiazipine such as xanax and watch over the person to make sure they don't hurt themselves/other people.

Spice us a terrible, terrible drug.

Unfortunately not much is known about what spice does as each batch is different made from newer and obscure synthetic cannabinoids to skirt the law so not only is the smoker using dangerous synth noids with little to no research about long or short term health effects.

The best thing I think you can do is go to this website http://spiceaddictionsupport.org

Collect horror stories on them inducing psychosise, seizures and even ruins cannibis completely where one puff xan lead to all the worst spice symptoms being reactivated leading to pain attacks each time forever ruining cannibis. If they still refuse to get off there is not much to be done sadly.

You should also be aware that sudden discontinuation after heavy use can result in a king-hell withdrawal syndrome.

I'd treat OD by the symptom- you'll see psychosis, agitation, extreme anxiety. Personally I think the best bet is a whopping dose of a longer acting benzo, pretty much knock them down until effects subside.

Same w/ seizure.