Chesterfield police warn residents of new drug

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) - The following is a press release from the Chesterfield County Police department.

The Chesterfield County Police Department is urging residents to be aware of the dangers of a new designer drug, known as 25i, which has recently surfaced in the drug market.

In Chesterfield County in recent weeks, seven people have gone to area hospitals with symptoms consistent with an overdose of 25i, a hallucinogen. In some of these cases, the patients have confirmed taking that drug. The side effects of any drug, including hallucinogens, may vary from person to person and often depend on many factors, including the person's size, weight and health, how much of the drug was taken, how it was taken and whether it was taken with or mixed with any other drug.

The effects of a hallucinogenic drug can last for several hours and someone under the influence may exhibit some of these side effects: blurred vision; increased breathing rate; euphoria; hallucinations and distorted sensory processing, including visual, auditory, body, time and space; disorganized thoughts, confusion; anxiety, agitation, paranoia and feelings of panic; dizziness, impaired coordination; increased heart rate and blood pressure; increased body temperature and sweating, which may alternate with chills and shivering; and numbness.

In its unaltered form, 25i is a white powder that would potentially be stored in a small plastic package, or even in a straw. If mixed with other drugs, it could look brown in color. Typically, it is ingested by snorting.

More than any other drug, the effects of hallucinogens vary greatly from person to person and from occasion to occasion. It is hard to know how the hallucinogenic experience or "trip" will turn out, and whether someone will experience the adverse side effects of hallucinogens (a "bad trip").

In several Chesterfield cases, patients have exhibited, along with some of the listed side effects, violent outbursts toward officers they have come in contact with.

While 25i is not currently a federally controlled substance, any person caught manufacturing, distributing, selling or marketing this drug as having the hallucinogenic effects of LSD, or of any other hallucinogen or Schedule I or II controlled substance, is subject to arrest and prosecution for a felony.

Copyright 2012 WWBT NBC12. All rights reserved.

Read more:
Chesterfield police warn residents of new drug