'Flakka,' the new killer drug, is spreading across the United States.

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

'Flakka,' the new killer drug, is spreading across the country

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's a new drug. And it's a killer.
Known on the street as "flakka," the synthetic concoction is hitting hard in Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and other parts of the country. It's causing a rash of emergency room visits and overdose deaths.

In one highly publicized Florida case, a man reportedly high on flakka gnawed on and disfigured another man's face before he was shot to death by police. Another user tried to break down the door of a police station in Fort Lauderdale, and a few weeks later, a man impaled himself while trying to climb a fence around the same station.

"This is the worst drug I have ever seen in my 18 years of law enforcement across the board," said Johnny Bivens, sheriff of Lewis County, Ky. "Nothing compares to this."

Also known as alpha-PVP, it has a similar chemical makeup to other drugs commonly known as "bath salts," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It typically comes in a white or pink crystalline form and is foul-smelling. It can be eaten, snorted, injected, or vaporized in an electronic cigarette device, according to the national institute, which has included flakka on a list of emerging trends.

It is particularly potent when vaporized, sending the drug into the bloodstream quickly, and making the user particularly susceptible to overdose.

"Alpha-PVP can cause a condition called excited delirium that involves hyper-stimulation, paranoia and hallucinations that can lead to violent aggression and self-injury," the institute warns. "The drug has been linked to deaths by suicide as well as heart attack. It can also dangerously raise body temperature and lead to kidney damage or kidney failure."

Authorities say flakka is easily accessible. It can be purchased online from China and in some parts of the United States has replaced crack cocaine.

Officials in Broward County, Fla., say the drug has contributed to at least 29 deaths over the last year.

While police locally say flakka hasn't been found here yet, they have dealt with other similar drugs that have led to hospitalizations and deaths.

"The dangerous thing about synthetic drugs is that the chemicals used to make them are always changing," said Sgt. Chris Cesena of the Kansas City police drug enforcement unit. "The user doesn't realize what they're taking. These are harsh chemicals."

Capt. Dan Cummings of the Jackson County Drug Task Force said synthetic drugs can vary widely in their potency from batch to batch.

In a recent investigation involving the sale of K2, commonly known as synthetic marijuana, Cummings said, confiscated samples tested in a laboratory ranged from 3 to 4 percent pure to as high as 80 to 90 percent.

Someone used to the weaker form is at a higher risk of overdose if they unknowingly ingest a purer form, he said.

Bivens said his office in Kentucky became aware of the drug around last Thanksgiving when reports of people acting strangely, sweating profusely and displaying intense paranoia started coming in.

"They always constantly think that someone is after them," he said. "One of the main things we have seen was people experiencing rapid weight loss, about 40 pounds a month. People don't eat. They are up for 10 to 12 days at a time. Their body becomes covered in abscesses."

Users report that the drug is highly addictive, he said.

And it was highly profitable for the people selling it. Dealers were able to obtain the drug online and were selling it for $250 a gram, he said.

The problem peaked this spring when Bivens said they were responding to two or three flakka-related calls a day.

And more often than not, when his deputies encountered users, they were involved in intense physical encounters to control them.

"Foot chases were going up," he said. "The use of force was going up because when you encounter these individuals they think you are trying to kill them and they would react and we would have to upgrade the use of force."

Flakka started appearing in the United States in a handful of cases in late 2012, said Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C.

By last year, a "tremendous" number of cases were being reported, he said.

In the last seven or eight years, officials have identified 400 different varieties of synthetic drugs.

"Alpha-PVP or flakka is just another one that has emerged unfortunately and it is causing a lot of problems in a lot of places," Payne said.

The area hit hardest by the drug is Broward County, Fla. It first surfaced there last year, said Lt. Ozzy Tianga of the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

At first, because users displayed many of the same symptoms and behaviors seen with cocaine or other synthetic drugs, officials did not realize they were seeing something new, he said.

The level of "excited delirium" experienced by flakka users tended to be much worse, and laboratory testing confirmed the presence of something new, according to Tianga.

"They were acting psychotic, very similar to acting as if they were mentally ill," he said.

Based on calls from other parts of the country, Tianga said he expects the drug to continue spreading.

"I have received calls from Kentucky, all of the northeast quadrant of the United States, from Texas all the way up to California," he said.

And because what he calls an "epidemic" is so new, he said, there are no proven rehabilitation methods.

"We have had some individuals who have experienced excited delirium up to five months after they use the drug," he said. "It is almost like the old-school LSD that could create a delayed response to the drug."

Payne of the DEA said that despite the claims of those who sell it online, it is illegal in the United States.

"A lot of people like to think legal means safe; therefore I can do this and be safe," Payne said. "There have been a lot of funerals unfortunately that have operated under that assumption."

Full article with pictures at link: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fl...ug-is-spreading-across-the-country/ar-BBm2ICF

 

[Burnt Offerings]

"It is almost like the old-school LSD that could create a delayed response to the drug."

I re-read this statement multiple times and it still doesn't make sense to me.

a-PVP hysteria, seriously? LOL. It's a stimulant and stimulant abuse often results in mental states not dissimilar to schizophrenia. Nothing new there. The high from such drugs isn't any better than the high from good ol' methamphetamine (I'd argue that it's worse, actually, both in quality and duration) so I don't think it'll get that popular. I also have no idea who the fuck would pay 250 dollars a gram for that crap.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

"It is almost like the old-school LSD that could create a delayed response to the drug."

I re-read this statement multiple times and it still doesn't make sense to me.

a-PVP hysteria, seriously? LOL. It's a stimulant and stimulant abuse often results in mental states not dissimilar to schizophrenia. Nothing new there. The high from such drugs isn't any better than the high from good ol' methamphetamine (I'd argue that it's worse, actually, both in quality and duration) so I don't think it'll get that popular. I also have no idea who the fuck would pay 250 dollars a gram for that crap.

I think what they meant by the comment about acid is how sometimes people will take LSD, think it is not working or it takes awhile to really kick in so they use more drugs. People also do this when they eat cannabis.

But you cannot compare acid, and herb to a-pvp as they are all different drugs, acid and herb are psychedelics, and a-pvp is a stimulant research chemical.

I have never used meth, mdxx, drugs, mdpv, a-pvp, cannabinoid research chemicals, or any research chemicals and I personally do not want to. A friend of mine tried bath salts when they were new and legal, and could be easily bought in stores and he was surprised that the drug was legal at the time.

 

[spacejunk]

I re-read this statement multiple times and it still doesn't make sense to me.

a-PVP hysteria, seriously? LOL. It's a stimulant and stimulant abuse often results in mental states not dissimilar to schizophrenia. Nothing new there. The high from such drugs isn't any better than the high from good ol' methamphetamine (I'd argue that it's worse, actually, both in quality and duration) so I don't think it'll get that popular. I also have no idea who the fuck would pay 250 dollars a gram for that crap.

I agree. A-PVP is fairly (but unfavourably) comparable to meth, but the rapid onset of paranoia, delusions and general psychosis seems to be far quicker than with meth.
The idea that this shit will cause massive social problems (in a country that has plenty of cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs) has been pushed by the media for some time now - but i think it is very unrealistic.
It is merely a scare campaign, as the primary reason for these cathinones (A-PVP, MDPV etc) hitting the streets in the first place was availability, affordability and (pseudo) legality.
I can't imagine them sticking around for much longer as the developed world continues to ban them, which will most likely stop Chinese/Indian labs producing them.

Just another drug folk-devil. A shitty one, at that.
In a couple of years these news outlets will work out what NBOMes are

 

[cousinskeeter]

spacejunk, I agree with half of what you said. It's definitely not comparable to meth though. I mean in OPs article it says (among other things) a guy impaled himself trying to climb a fence at the police station. Not even crack heads do shit like that. The only drugs I would compare it to, even just a little bit, would be heroin and crack. That's because heroin, crack, and a-PVP and make every second of your life about doing that drug, or achieving the next high. Any time I ran out of a-PVP, and my next sack had not come yet.... I would comb through my carpet with tweezers and a flashlight picking up crystals praying it wasnt dried garlic.

If the govt/DEA actually starts clamping down on imports of a-PVP, then it will dry up. I can't see it spreading to the rest of the country for numerous reasons, but a-PVP has been illegal for a long while now; so I don't agree that it's a scare campaign. This stuff is the real deal, especially combined with Floridas "unique" population. I've been down the block and back with every drug out there, and a-PVP (when vaped) makes meth look like childs play, or caffeine.

The only drug I've ever used that made me want to commit suicide after being up for 5 days. No other substance I have been addicted to in the past, ruined my life as much, or as quickly. I somehow made over $4000 disappear (and not just on drugs) in about 4 months, despite the fact that I was holed up in my room all day doing nothing but jacking off and getting high. I turned my room into a fort knox, because I was certain my neighbors were spying on me and the cops were outside about to bust in and put a bullet in my head. I stopped being able to jack off completely, because I thought my neighbors were watching me masturbate. Now obviously my own personal irresponsibility played a HUGE role in that, I won't pretend to deny that at all. But this stuff was dark.



I read another story on flakka about a guy (who is now in rehab) who was up for 21 days. Thats like the type of stuff we do to terrorists when we torture them. You would need a rock of meth the size of pluto to even have a chance at doing what 5 grams of a-PVP can do. But I'm bias. My brain/receptors and overall reality have also been slightly askew ever since using a-PVP heavily, even though its already been almost a year since I last used.

I will say, however, that a-PVP is not "super meth", its a completely different monster on so many levels. Hell, PVP was even a different beast when compared to MDPV. High purity, crystal a-PVP is the real fucking deal mate. Plus I remember there was discussion on BL a while back regarding the possibility that when you vape a-PVP, the amber residue left over has pyrolized into a new, more psychosis inducing (and less euphoria inducing) chemical. My personal experience seemed to hint at this as well.

The only way I see this ending well for florida is if the DEA/Customs can stop the import of the drug completely. Unfortunately the last time I ordered a-PVP [and it was already illegal] it was easy a cake, and it showed up on my doorstep a week and a half later. Not really sure what their goal or gameplan at customs/dea is right now but if they cannot stop the import to the main Florida dealers, I can definitely see it being a mini-crack epidemic..... it may already be.

Anyways the bottom line is, as a country and as a people, we weren't prepared for flakka. And we REALLY weren't prepared for people beginning to distribute it on such large scales.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

How is blowing large amounts of money, carpet surfing, compulsively and endlessly jerking off & getting racked by extreme paranoia any different from the abuse of any number of other strong stimulant drugs?

 

[cousinskeeter]

Point taken. I guess if I had to narrow it down: you can live life as a functional meth addict if you have some control and will power. No such thing as a functional PVP addict.

 

[SmokingAces]

I agree. A-PVP is fairly (but unfavourably) comparable to meth, but the rapid onset of paranoia, delusions and general psychosis seems to be far quicker than with meth. The idea that this shit will cause massive social problems (in a country that has plenty of cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs) has been pushed by the media for some time now - but i think it is very unrealistic. It is merely a scare campaign, as the primary reason for these cathinones (A-PVP, MDPV etc) hitting the streets in the first place was availability, affordability and (pseudo) legality. I can't imagine them sticking around for much longer as the developed world continues to ban them, which will most likely stop Chinese/Indian labs producing them. Just another drug folk-devil. A shitty one, at that. In a couple of years these news outlets will work out what NBOMes are

I agree, only once had it in a cut batch of coke I bought from a scumbag dealer but sent me wrong with psychosis far sooner than any other stim I've tried. I would compare it very unfavorably to meth indeed! MDPV there are also many horror stories, I think in general the most potent thing about these drugs is the psychosis.

 

[Dresden]

Oh no, not again, the dreaded "New Killer Drug XYZ" headline has been reincarnated again in one of its infinite new guises to torment the spiritually sleeping, sleep deprived masses with another terrifying, imaginary thing to be worried about and sell newspapers. I've done research chemical MDPV and aPVP, and while MDPV sent me to the hospital, nothing of the sort was experienced with aPVP, and its dosage level was much higher. In fact, I quite enjoyed it and suspect that the "shards" i get nowadays are aPVP instead of methamphetamine; however, this is just a hunch. Anway, sheesh...