Numerous overdoses involving “Smacked,” a synthetic marijuana, has led to New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan declaring a public health emergency.
Currently, 44 reported overdoses have been linked to Smacked, with many of those people needing to go to a hospital by ambulance. The drug is sold in many convenient stores as a potpourri, but is smoked like marijuana.
The state of emergency will allow for police officers to investigate places that sell the marijuana-like substance. Officials may also be able to quarantine the product.
“These products pose a serious threat to public health, especially to young people, and it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to combat the recent rash of overdoses,” noted Hassan.
Already, police officers have investigated three convenient stores in Manchester that were selling the drug. The business licenses of those places have been revoked, noted officials.
Smacked is sold in packets containing a potpourri-like substance that has been sprayed with something similar to tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the active ingredient in marijuana.
Though it is similar to marijuana, Smacked can be very dangerous, and can also produce unpredictable effects.
“People are smoking substances without knowing what’s in them,” said Dr. Christopher Rosenbaum, director of toxicology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. “I would argue these products are more dangerous than the [marijuana] they are intended to replace.”
Although New Hampshire has had a ban on synthetic marijuana products and bath salts since 2012, making sure the products are not being sold has been difficult for the state to enforce. This is partially because companies keep changing the ingredients in their products, making it difficult to know whether the products are legal or illegal.
“They keep changing it all the time, playing this game with the federal government to see what’s illegal and what isn’t,” said Dr. Jose Montero, state public health director for New Hampshire. “These are just psychotropic drugs.”
[…] marijuana or 'Spice' overdose on the rise: NH Gov. declares state of …Tech TimesSynthetic marijuana prompts health emergency in NHThe Westside StoryiStreet Research -Boston Globe -Fox Newsall 119 news […]
As sgt Friday said, marijuana is the flame, heroin the fuse, and LSD the bomb. If only the writers of Dragnet had known what the future connotations of “flame” and “the bomb” would be.
State of emergency? HUH?! So then the governor has certainly called a “state of emergency” over alcohol, right? I mean if there was ever a substance to “quarantine,” that would be it! What about cig’s? Why this tom-foolery could go on and on…..
[…] NH Gov. declares state of …Tech TimesSynthetic Marijuana on the Rise, Overdoses FollowDumb-OutSynthetic marijuana prompts health emergency in NHThe Westside StoryiStreet Research -Boston Globe -Fox Newsall 118 news […]
This is so silly. Cannabus was illegal in New Hampshire until recently (I believe medical marijuana is legal there now), so people who would like to smoke have to resort to synthetic weed, which who knows what they put in that stuff. If people want to smoke that bad, just legalize it already!
[…] Smacked, otherwise known as …Synthetic Marijuana on the Rise, Overdoses FollowDumb-OutSynthetic marijuana prompts health emergency in NHThe Westside StorySynthetic marijuana still being sold in MS and NHiStreet ResearchBoston […]
Legalize Maijuanna, problem solved.
Synthetic Marijuana is probably more poisonous for the short-term than real dope.
The real stuff ruins short term memory, creates paranoia and stunts initiative.
It has more arresting features than motivating features.
It will make your brain do a reboot in post traumatic circumstances.
I suggest decriminalizing it.
Let all the pot heads move to Colorado to escape reality; and quit trying to legalize it under the noise of medical use; Aspirin still works.
It demotivates users; Just the thing for a couch potato with limited concentration abilities, and below average motivation.
Message to the upcoming generation: Just say NO to dope.
yep, it just makes you lazy and stupid. Nobody ever made anything that smoked pot. No art, music, literature, or software. Nope, never had a positive influence on anyone’s life.
What, so we should imprison our children while we lie to them about it? Most people get it, that pot is a cash cow for the feds and law enforcement and they keep up the lies. In our lifetimes, wouldn’t it be nice to make them drop it already? Now they are taking out their own patent…two-faced behavior for a century! It is simply not right that anyone is put in prison over a cruel deception regarding the finest medicine and fiber plant on the planet! We have been robbed of our birthright! Look up Anslinger in Wikipedia and read how he knew he was basing his prohibition on Hearst’s lies! He ruled for 30 years! Those who keep up the rhetoric against it are helping to keep people in prison! Prison! Over pot? I wish we could see it as the unethical deal it was in the first place and finally stop tormenting each other over their old propaganda. They are cheating us. The Founding Fathers praised it and planted as much as they could.Now, they tell us that hemp is not an important source of fiber and oil. Lincoln preferred hemp oil for light. Hemp seed has saved millions from starvation. Hemp seed feeds the wild songbirds. It is not all about getting a buzz. One autistic child saved from a life of misery is worth more than their whole world- tromping farce. Time for discussion is over. Let Freedom Ring!
I’m thinking sarcasm is not your strong point.
Well, sarcasm wasn’t really the point…I’m no writer, I just resent the way we are all being used by this phony controversy. I wish I hadn’t taken that tone …like to be mean about it, I just want to nudge people and say, look a little deeper into this and see that it is filled with our own pain and we should fix it. We own the govt, but now it’s like a Frankenstein’s monster full of unaccountable madness. So much for writing…
You’re still not getting it; my comment to Kurt was sarcasm. As in I was insulting his belief that marijuana only makes people lazy and stupid. I’m not saying you were being sarcastic.
i see, thanks…my goof
oops, i feel dumb…you got me 🙂
Pot makes you lazy and stupid like that olympic gold medalist who smokes it.
Pot makes all those comedians, movie stars, and musicians that smoke it totally unable to do anything at all.
this guy gets it!
There is no such thing as “Synthetic Marijuana”. Saying this trash is like Marijuana is like saying that your metal cabinet with a vinyl wood-grain laminate covering is a Japanese Maple tree!
Spice is generally potpourri soaked in random research chemicals not tested for human or even animal consumption. It’s not regulated by the FDA, and every time a chemical formula gets banned, they create a new chemical analog, usually more destructive than the last.
If only there was some drug that would induce mild euphoria without the threat of permanent brain damage or death.
We could call it Marijuana.
WTF common! I am not even a weed smoker (I’m more of the alcohol sort), but seriously? Why the fudge would you make something like synthetic weed? (Alright probably because it’s dirt cheap) But why would use that crap? What’s wrong with real weed? And as someone said it below…As nobody ever got sick or died smoking the real thing…
I don’t use marijuana but as a university degreed person in the field of public administration one would think that our government would have figured out that prohibition and criminalization of popular recreational substances creates more problems than it solves. Anyone care to time-trip back to the massive public policy failure of the early 20th century, known os the Volstead Act. AKA….prohibition of alcohol. Truth be known, the only reason that marijuana remains illegal with the federal government today is due to the behind the scenes influence of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency)/ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). The DEA/ATF are the worst performing major government agencies in regards to taxpayer dollars spent and acheiving their stated mission goals. So, as a bureaucracies, they justify their enormous taxpayer funded budgets by going after marijuana and legal pain medications. Who pays for wonderful diligence? The everyday citizen, chronic pain patients and the medical doctors trying to do their jobs. The DEA/ATF have been almost 100% effective for decades at NOT stopping the import, manufacture and distribution of the really dangerous drugs like heroin, methamphetamine, steroids etc.
Our government is so corrupt and dictatorial I am almost ashamed these days to say I am an american or that I live in the supposed Land of the Free.
since no one has ever overdosed on the real thing, the solution to this problem seems quite obvious.
Not sure how many times I need to post this information but its the system causing a big part of the problem. People love there Marijuana. Pre trial services, Probation and Parole do not allow one to smoke this natural safe substance & it stays in your system to long that urine test pick up on it. Not so with this substance. Its undetectable for the most part. States need to get there heads out of there collective asses as Arizona just did, and allow probation, parolees & pre trial victims of this bogus system ( at minimum) medically, to utilise Marijuana and you will see spice overdoses and deaths drop dramatically. Realy a no brainer! But were dealing with fools in high places here. Government speaking. Smh
Not sure how many times I need to post this information but its the system causing a big part of the problem. People love there Marijuana. Pre trial services, Probation and Parole do not allow one to smoke this natural safe substance & it stays in your system to long that urine test pick up on it. Not so with this substance. Its undetectable for the most part. States need to get there heads out of there collective asses as Arizona just did, and allow probation, parolees & pre trial victims of this bogus system ( at minimum) medically, to utilise Marijuana and you will see spice overdoses and deaths drop dramatically. Realy a no brainer! But were dealing with fools in high places here. Government speaking. Smh
I agree with you. However, your writing skills detract from your argument. Use “it’s” instead of “its” when taking the place of “it is.” Use two spaces between a period and the first letter of the next sentance. Use their when showing possession, not there. When two words such as pre and trial form a compound adjective to describe a noun, they are hyphenated. The sentance should have began with “Pre-trial services.” “Probation” and “parole” should not have been capitalized. Use “and” instead of “&” in a sentance. Use “too” instead of “to” when you mean “also.” Get rid of the run on sentance. The word “really” is not spelled “realy.” Get rid of the “but” at the beginning of the sentance and use an apostropohe in the word “we’re.”
It’s hard to call someone else a fool when your argument makes you look like one. I’m beginning to suspect that these posts are from those who are against marijuana legalization.
“Sentence” not “sentance”.
Well…aren’t you the professor. I hate people like you. Give it a rest genius.
You’ve got some spelling and grammatical errors yourself there. Try opposing his argument instead of his grammar.
Yeah but who’s going to work to pay the taxes if everyone’s having a good time. And who’s going to go to jail if it’s not illegal. And how are politicians suppose to get work done if they can’t go after dope (publicly). Come on, now, the government gots to work.
[…] NBCNews.comSynthetic marijuana prompts health emergency in NHThe Westside StoryNumerous overdoses involving “Smacked,” a synthetic marijuana, has led to New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan declaring a public health emergency. Currently, 44 reported overdoses have been linked to Smacked, with many of those people needing …Synthetic marijuana still being sold in MS and NHiStreet ResearchMass., NH crack down on ‘synthetic marijuana’Boston GlobeNew Hampshire declares state of emergency over synthetic marijuana-like drugFox Newsabc40 -The Utah People’s Post -Chicago Tribuneall 110 news articles …Read Full Story […]