Synthetic drugs reach Lynn area

Home > News Synthetic drugs reach Lynn area By Taylor Provost / The Daily Item

LYNN Public Health Director MaryAnn OConnor said a 13-year-old Lynn girl told her grandmother she bought and used fake pot and ended up passing out on a sidewalk.

She reported experiencing a major, major headache and heart palpitations after she was taken to the emergency room, OConnor said.

We have a little girl who is scared for her life, who gave it to her grandmother who reported it, she said of the so-called synthetic drugs that are showing up in Lynn. She said she found it at a gas station.

OConnor said synthetic drugs and the trendy designer drug bath salts, pose a danger to kids and teens who might not realize just how serious the drugs are.

While the substances sold as fake pot may resemble marijuana and are marketed as a legal alternative, OConnor said there is nothing natural about them.

Kids think theyre getting legal pot and what theyre really getting is a banned substance thats chemical, she said. The effects are much more dangerous, and you dont know what it will do it depends on the person.

The problem has been growing throughout the country for several years, OConnor said, but the cannibalistic attack of a homeless man in Miami in May by a man reported to have been on bath salts thrust it into the spotlight, and may have prompted the U.S. Senate to approve a bill banning the sale of synthetic drugs.

Now all of a sudden theres a lot more information out there, OConnor said. Its a shame it took something like that to make them act.

OConnor said both synthetic drugs and bath salts are available in Lynn.

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Synthetic drugs reach Lynn area