Spice zombies.

[55palfers]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4381120/Fo...

This is some nasty stuff. Way more of an issue than pot I suspect.

Any idea what the hell it actually is?

[eybic]

It's a massive issue in prisons and results in a lot of heart attacks so yes, it's much worse and I'd go so far as saying nothing like pot/ weed.

It's created by chemists to have similar effects to various drugs and was only recently outlawed.

[ambuletz]

are they not just doing the manniquen challenge?

[J4CKO]

Awful, evil thing it is, it truly turns people into mindless zombies who cant think for themselves, they get dependant and unable to function, physically they degenerate. The thing is it is cheap, so it is very accessible and pretty soon, its every day, even Sundays,







But enough of The Daily Mail....

[AndrewEH1]

J4CKO said:

Awful, evil thing it is, it truly turns people into mindless zombies who cant think for themselves, they get dependant and unable to function, physically they degenerate. The thing is it is cheap, so it is very accessible and pretty soon, its every day, even Sundays,







But enough of The Daily Mail....

[anonymous-user]

Its also creating massive problems in Mental Health services, especially forensic services, they are being bombarded with referrals for prisoners going loopy on the stuff.

[silverthorn2151]

Why would someone do that to themselves? How does it make them feel to be worth that.

I acknowledge its a long way outside my frame of reference but even so. I hate being around people who have had a spliff let alone that.

Crazy.

[Jonmx]

Horrible stuff, as has been said it's a real issue now in prisons and mental health services. The recent ban hasn't done too much to stop it either as anyone with a little bit of knowledge can knock stuff up pretty easily. We've had a couple of deaths amongst the street community down here in the last year or so from it.
You may well have seen empty packets on the floor in carparks or alleyways.

[SirSquidalot]

It's crazy cheap and delivers a big hit. Manchester is rife with it, people dealing everywhere and these zombies all over the streets. It's got to the point now where they deal in broad daylight, take it in broad daylight then get fked up and fight or turn into a trembling mess.

[geeks]

AndrewEH1 said:

J4CKO said:

Awful, evil thing it is, it truly turns people into mindless zombies who cant think for themselves, they get dependant and unable to function, physically they degenerate. The thing is it is cheap, so it is very accessible and pretty soon, its every day, even Sundays,







But enough of The Daily Mail....

[Emanresu]

There needs to be some proper education of the public on these synthetic cannibinoid products rather that just calling it all "spice" and scaring everyone without providing any real information. When I hear the word spice I generally stop reading the article as it's most likely from a reporter who has done no research on the subject and is pulling words from their arse.

There are hundreds of different synthetic cannibinoid receptor agonists, some more harmful than others, 5f-akb48, awh-018, mmb-chminaca etc. Lumping them all under one term such as spice or legal highs is one of the worst things that can be done and shows a lack of knowledge.

Some of these drugs are perfectly fine for recreational use just like the other popular illegal drugs such as mdma, cocaine, lsd etc. Some of them will cause serious health problems. The government should be providing people with proper information rather than the old drugs are bad mmmmkay line.

Or just legalise and tax weed and deal with the problem the efficient way. It works in America, why wouldn't it work here? Most of the council chavvy wasters who spend their day on their backside smoking weed would still be just council chavvy wasters even without it.

[can't remember]

J4CKO said:

Awful, evil thing it is, it truly turns people into mindless zombies who cant think for themselves, they get dependant and unable to function, physically they degenerate. The thing is it is cheap, so it is very accessible and pretty soon, its every day, even Sundays,







But enough of The Daily Mail....

Whey hey.

[WCZ]

Emanresu said:

Or just legalise and tax weed and deal with the problem the efficient way. It works in America, why wouldn't it work here? Most of the council chavvy wasters who spend their day on their backside smoking weed would still be just council chavvy wasters even without it.

that's not the solution though because weed doesn't compare in effects to the preferred synthetic canaboids of the users (which tend to be strongest and most dangerous ones)

[battered]

55palfers said:

Any idea what the hell it actually is?

Yes, it is the word used to describe a range of synthetic chemicals that have a similar structure to the active ingredients of cannabis.

Without wanting to bore you with too much chemistry (I'll spare you) the active ingredients of cannabis are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (known as THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Variants of these, whether natural or synthetic, are called cannabinoids. A similar group of drugs is the opiates, those made from opium or opium derivatives.

Chemists all over the world spend their time looking at plants used for traditional remedies or recreation, and making modified forms of them to see what they do. The vast majority don't have a medical use but some do. amongst the opiates there is codeine (methyl morphine) which is a good painkiller but less addictive than morphine. Heroin is the other way - not only a painkiller but wow, the euphoria. Pethidine is less addictive, methadone takes the sting out of withdrawal but doesn't give the euphoria, so as we know it's used to wean people off heroin. So it goes on. See also snake venoms, all sorts of active chemicals are researched.

This work has been done for the cannabinoids from the 80's onwards. The hope is that you can come up with something that dulls pain (or something else useful) but doesn't have the psychoactive activity. Unfortunately as luck would have it the synthetic drugs are often *more* psychoactive than the natural ones so not only are they useless to medicine they are very sought after by the illegal drugs fraternity. Bugger. So having been invented to research possible useful medical properties, they are now being abused.

[eybic]

I think I watched a documentary on the chemists on Netflix, very interesting.

[55palfers]

battered said:

55palfers said:

Any idea what the hell it actually is?

Yes, it is the word used to describe a range of synthetic chemicals that have a similar structure to the active ingredients of cannabis.

Without wanting to bore you with too much chemistry (I'll spare you) the active ingredients of cannabis are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (known as THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Variants of these, whether natural or synthetic, are called cannabinoids. A similar group of drugs is the opiates, those made from opium or opium derivatives.

Chemists all over the world spend their time looking at plants used for traditional remedies or recreation, and making modified forms of them to see what they do. The vast majority don't have a medical use but some do. amongst the opiates there is codeine (methyl morphine) which is a good painkiller but less addictive than morphine. Heroin is the other way - not only a painkiller but wow, the euphoria. Pethidine is less addictive, methadone takes the sting out of withdrawal but doesn't give the euphoria, so as we know it's used to wean people off heroin. So it goes on. See also snake venoms, all sorts of active chemicals are researched.

This work has been done for the cannabinoids from the 80's onwards. The hope is that you can come up with something that dulls pain (or something else useful) but doesn't have the psychoactive activity. Unfortunately as luck would have it the synthetic drugs are often *more* psychoactive than the natural ones so not only are they useless to medicine they are very sought after by the illegal drugs fraternity. Bugger. So having been invented to research possible useful medical properties, they are now being abused.[/quote

Thanks for that - interesting.
So, (in simple terms) once the recipe is known, these can be synthesised very cheaply in a rudimentary lab by an A level chemistry student?

[battered]

I suspect so. It's the nature of chemistry that once you have sorted out how to make it a quick-and-dirty synthesis method, given the right raw materials, can be done in your kitchen. I think it's crystal meth that can be made from ephedrine, found in cold and flu remedies. As you say an A level chemistry student would be more than capable, you carry out a simple reaction and then maybe a solvent extraction, leave it to evaporate dry, job done. That's all they do with cocaine, the start chemicals are household bleach and paraffin, and they do that in a hole in the forest lined with plastic sheet.

[BlackLabel]

*bump*


Photos in the press might be a good thing - even if they shock one potential user to walk away then it's a positive thing.

However members of the public randomly taking photos of users is a bit insensitive and cruel imo.

Beeb said:

People have been urged not to post photos of Spice "zombies" online.

Images of people collapsed in the street or slumped on benches after taking the synthetic cannabis substitute are often widely shared online.

Sheffield City Council has launched a campaign asking people to be "kind not cruel" and refrain from taking photos.

Helen Phillips-Jackson, from the council, said users needed encouragement rather than ridicule.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-45709950

[Oakey]

Aye, that's what these councils are worried about, the users, not the image it portrays of their towns / cities

[Noodle1982]

I'm surprised it has taken so long for the substance to be as popular as it is. The promotion for it started decades ago.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9wfpXI5PKlw