Please note: This article contains graphic details of real-life events that may not be suitable for everyone.
Drug use has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. Twenty years ago I was a narcotics officer working in the San Francisco Bay Area and I routinely dealt with people, most employed, dealing drugs at the street level. Back then, the drugs we came across were confined to marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, PCP and heroin. We did not have a huge pharmaceutical abuse problem and we most certainly did not see the wide spread use of designer drugs.
T
hat all changed in the mid-1990s when the Internet became main- stream. Once global communica-
tion and instant access to information became available to nearly everyone, people began to share recipes for new drugs and share information about legal highs. Once this free flow of informa- tion on new drugs began to spread, new websites and forums popped up so drug users could look for new highs. Over the last few years, I have seen a
trend among a certain segment of the drug using community. So many new legal highs are available that users started switching their drug of choice to new legal drugs. As word spread among users, people subjected to drug testing began to change their drug usage to these new drugs to avoid drug detection in workplace, DOT and court mandated drug testing. 1
Based on interviews from police officers
from around the country and my own personal experience interacting with drug users on a daily basis, I have compiled a short list of drugs that we see drug users consume to avoid their mandated drug testing. Tis information came from con- versations that occurred during arrestee interviews from 2010 to the present. A few drug testing programs may test for some of these drugs, but that has been the exception and not the rule.
Synthetic Cannabinoids Synthetic cannabinoids are a fairly new drug, having been introduced to the market in the early 2000s. Some people initially thought that Synthetic Cannabi- noids (commonly called K2 or spice) were naturally occurring herbs. Tis is far from true. Synthetic cannabinoids are a series of chemicals, such as HU-218 and JWH-200, which mimic some properties in cannabis (like THC). However, calling these drugs synthetic cannabinoids is a misnomer. I have evaluated a few people under the
influence of synthetic cannabinoids and found that they do not present themselves as a typical cannabis abuser would. Tey are, at times, non-communicative or mumbling, stumbling and hallucinating. Although you could have a psychedelic effect with some strong forms of cannabis, hallucinations brought on by synthetic can- nabinoids seem to be much more intense.
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