The Dangerous Drug That Has Taken Hold of Turkey
BY EMILY FELDMAN
August 27th 2014
ISTANBUL, Turkey—The body of Volkan Senyurt was found slumped against a tree on a hill in Istanbul, one morning this summer.
The 20-year-old had been home on a break from the military when he died.
His lifelong friend and neighbor found the body. The sight was too much. A former drug user himself, the friend bolted from the scene, suspecting what authorities eventually confirmed: that bonzai, a synthetic drug that has rapidly spread through Turkey, was to blame for Senyurt's death.
Small packets of the drug, erroneously marketed on the street as a safe alternative to marijuana, began appearing in Senyurt's neighborhood of Bayramtepe several years ago, residents say.
Its arrival and sudden popularity coincided with a global rise in synthetic drug use. Like bath salts and types of synthetic marijuana popular in the U.S., bonzai spread through Turkey, unimpeded by any kind of regulation.
By the time anyone noticed, much damage had already been done.
Over the last few weeks, however, stories of bonzai-linked deaths have become news fixtures and police have finally sounded the alarm. In a national police report published in July, just a month after Senyurt's death, it was noted that bonzai, which was barely known in 2010, now account for half of all illicit drugs on the market in Istanbul, the country's largest city.
Continued with pictures http://mashable.com/2014/08/27/turkeys-drug-scene/
BY EMILY FELDMAN
August 27th 2014
ISTANBUL, Turkey—The body of Volkan Senyurt was found slumped against a tree on a hill in Istanbul, one morning this summer.
The 20-year-old had been home on a break from the military when he died.
His lifelong friend and neighbor found the body. The sight was too much. A former drug user himself, the friend bolted from the scene, suspecting what authorities eventually confirmed: that bonzai, a synthetic drug that has rapidly spread through Turkey, was to blame for Senyurt's death.
Small packets of the drug, erroneously marketed on the street as a safe alternative to marijuana, began appearing in Senyurt's neighborhood of Bayramtepe several years ago, residents say.
Its arrival and sudden popularity coincided with a global rise in synthetic drug use. Like bath salts and types of synthetic marijuana popular in the U.S., bonzai spread through Turkey, unimpeded by any kind of regulation.
By the time anyone noticed, much damage had already been done.
Over the last few weeks, however, stories of bonzai-linked deaths have become news fixtures and police have finally sounded the alarm. In a national police report published in July, just a month after Senyurt's death, it was noted that bonzai, which was barely known in 2010, now account for half of all illicit drugs on the market in Istanbul, the country's largest city.
Continued with pictures http://mashable.com/2014/08/27/turkeys-drug-scene/
