Recently, the abuse of synthetic drugs has re-emerged as a significant worldwide issue. However, toxicology tests later confirmed that “bath salts” were not present in the attacker’s system. After this look at the effects of the flakka drug, discover the horrors of krokodil, the Russian zombie drug. Then, discover devil’s breath, the Colombian 5 types of alcoholics according to the niaaa powder more terrifying than cocaine. In Broward County alone, the number of flakka samples authorities tested in connection with crimes or deaths went from seven in 2013 to 576 in 2014 and to more than 900 in 2015, according to NBC. Dr. Nabil El Sanadi likewise told NBC that his facility saw 25 to 30 flakka patients a day in late 2015.

In recent years there’s been a rise in the number of national crime lab reports for cathinones, along with a decline in cases involving MDMA, which is the active chemical in both Molly and Ecstasy. Benzodiazepines may be used to calm the individual, and antipsychotics such as olanzapine might help alleviate symptoms of drug-induced psychosis. But no medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat alpha-PVP abuse. It can be smoked in a joint or e-cigarette, injected or compressed into capsules and swallowed.

This struggle causes a high core body temperature called hyperthermia. The combination of a high body temperature and extreme muscle overactivity can cause other metabolic problems to happen in the body. Muscle tissue begins to break down, releasing proteins and other cellular products into the bloodstream, in a process called rhabdomyolysis. The result of the cellular products and proteins released during rhabdomyolysis and dehydration can impair the filtering function of the kidneys, leading to renal failure and death. In addition, such agitation may trigger Taser use or other methods that have the potential to harm the individual when law enforcement personnel have to intervene.

While there are no FDA-approved medications for addiction to flakka, there are medicines available for co-occurring mental health conditions. Although people use flakka to achieve a euphoric high, the drug’s symptoms and side effects can escalate quickly. The information contained on this website is not intended to be a substitute for, or to be relied upon as, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

What Is Flakka?

In West Flanders, it’s especially in the region around the town of Roeselare, where the drug first gained popularity, that it is giving cause for concern. Some complications of Flakka drug abuse can happen while the drug user is acutely agitated if they were to harm themselves or others; however, medically, the severe consequences of the agitation caused by the drug appear later. Agitated patients can go into a state called “excited delirium,” which is a medical emergency. In the excited delirium state, restrained patients struggle to free themselves, scream, flail, and can even have seizures.

For thousands of years, people have chewed the shrub’s leaves for their psychoactive effects in the plant’s native North Africa and Saudi Arabia. Flakka is sometimes referred to as the “zombie drug.” Individuals high on alpha-PVP may experience an altered mental state that induces psychosis. The synthetic substance can also produce unusual physical strength. In some situations, multiple police officers may be needed to subdue someone intoxicated on flakka. Behavioral therapy can treat addiction to synthetic cathinones like flakka. Examples of behavioral therapy include cognitive-behavioral therapy, contingency management and motivational incentives.

People addicted to the stimulant should seek treatment immediately. “One of the kind of 21st century trends in drug supply is creating new brand names like flakka and building its popularity and then selling anything,” said Hall, who authored a report on the designer drug market in Florida. “Elsewhere in the country [flakka is] actually quite a popular drug. It’s often sold under the street name gravel because of its crystal, small, lumped-up appearance that looks like grainy pebbles or gravel in an aquarium.” Rehab offers evidence-based therapies that can help clients learn the underlying causes of their substance abuse problems. Therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy can teach patients how to overcome triggers and cravings.

1. Just like that, it seemed the effects of the flakka epidemic had swiftly ended.
2. This method of ingestion can make it particularly easy to overdose on flakka.
3. If someone exhibits bizarre or harmful behaviors resulting from flakka use, call 911 immediately.
4. They can also be taken orally, smoked, or placed into a solution and injected into the veins.
5. It may also be combined with other, softer drugs such as marijuana.

They can also be taken orally, smoked, or placed into a solution and injected into the veins. As little is known about flakka, detoxing in the care of medical professionals is essential. When someone goes through a flakka detox, they will usually experience withdrawal symptoms such as those listed above.

What are the complications of Flakka use?

Alpha-PVP produces a rush of dopamine in the brain, causing an intense high similar to that of cocaine and methamphetamine. But it can also cause agitated delirium and sometimes results in psychiatric hospitalization. It can cause compulsive drug-seeking behavior even when people know the health, social and legal consequences of their actions. Flakka is a dangerous drug that has many bad side effects, mostly including changes in behavior or mood. As flakka is a new drug, there is still a lot to learn about the treatment of the substance.

Thus, there are cases as violent as Austin Harrouff, and sometimes as unhinged as a 37-year-old Floridian identified only as Stephanie. NBC News reported that upon her very first experience with the flakka drug, she hallucinated that she was being chased. She then ripped off her clothes and jumped three stories off a bridge and into the water below. First invented in the 1960s, these compounds contort that euphoria and arousal into something far darker. And all of flakka’s devastating delirium and aggression start with a simple white or pink crystal.

In some of the documented delusions, individuals’ experiences are of a typical paranoia, where the drug users feel they are being chased by a large group of people trying to kill them. These patients are a threat to themselves, the people around them, and the first responders (police, EMS) who are there to help them. It is common to hear reports that it takes multiple people to restrain and sedate these patients. Rescue crews and emergency department staff need to give sedatives to these patients to calm them and make them safe. Each time one type of bath salt is made illegal, the drug labs change the chemical structure slightly and a new drug that is technically not illegal is created.

They mimic the stimulant effects similar to those resulting from illegal drugs. These include cocaine, methamphetamine (crystal meth), and MDMA (molly or ecstasy). Flakka is a highly addictive and dangerous drug, otherwise known as alpha-PVP (alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone.) It is an amphetamine-like stimulant that belongs to the cathinone drug class. Cathinones are man-made, or synthetic drugs containing cathinone, a naturally occurring stimulant found in the khat plant. Flakka is the nickname of alpha-PVP, a synthetic cathinone derived from the African khat plant. The designer drug is chemically similar to 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), an active ingredient in bath salts.

Bath salts, in general, are psychoactive synthetic drugs (designer drugs) made in large quantities in foreign drug labs. These drugs are all related to a broader group of chemical compounds known as synthetic cathinones, chemically similar to a substance found in the khat plant, which is known for its amphetamine-like stimulant effects. Some brand names of synthetic cathinones include Bliss, Vanilla Sky, Lunar Wave, Cloud Nine, and White Lightning. Flakka is the street name for the synthetic cathinone called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (Alpha-PVP). Police in south Florida have seen a growing number of cases of bizarre and uncontrollable behavior linked to a street drug called flakka, one of the newer chemicals in the booming category of synthetic or designer drugs. Synthetic drugs known as bath salts are from the synthetic cathinone class of drugs, like flakka.

What are the symptoms of Flakka abuse?

There was the January 2015 case of Leroy Strothers, who stripped naked and brought a gun to the roof of a south Florida apartment building where he proclaimed that someone was trying to kill him before finally being subdued. And some of the more appalling flakka incidents are just as tragic as all those physiological and psychological effects suggest. “The main issue with this whole category is that the user just doesn’t know what they’re taking or the strength of what they’re taking, and literally they are the guinea pigs,” he said. “We’re referring to these as the guinea pig drugs. Often the dealer might not even know what they’re selling.”

alpha-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone

People high on the synthetic cathinone began acting erratically — exhibiting bizarre behaviors and becoming uncontrollably volatile. This led to a number of emergency department visits, overdoses and deaths. mixing alcohol and hallucinogens Flakka originally became popular as a new synthetic drug in South Florida with people looking for a cheap high. Flakka is the latest in a selection of synthetic drugs used in the United States.

Detection in body fluids

When experiencing excited delirium, some people react with violent behavior and self-injury. Flakka has been linked to several deaths by suicide, as well as heart attacks. The drug can also raise body temperature dangerously high, leading to kidney damage or failure. Like “bath salts” — the other grisly crime-inducing 15 things i’ve learned being the only sober person in the room drug that saw a sharp rise in popularity a few years ago — the flakka drug is technically known as alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (alpha-PVP), a type of synthetic cathinone. This dangerous class of drugs gets its kick from manmade compounds chemically related to cathinone, a derivative of the khat shrub.