(WHAS11) There’s a new drug that’s easy to get. It’s called K2.
Kentucky just banned it, but in most states it’s legal.
Experts warn though that they don’t know much about it and it’s already put dozens of people in the hospital.
K2, also known as fake weed, has put over 100 people in the emergency room in Louisville so far this year.
The Poison Control Center said people between 17 and 29 years of age are the biggest users right now.
But the drug is becoming so popular, smoke shops in Indiana can barely keep it on the shelves; although it was never meant to be a drug.
It’s smoked in joints, bongs and pipes just like marijuana. It even has the same smell and users say it gives them the same high.
Chris Kiviniemi, who was smoking K2 said, “This is the best thing going on right now.”
It’s an un-regulated mixture of dried herbs, sprayed with a chemical compound and most of the packaging reads, “Not for human consumption.”
WHAS11 reporter, Anna Prendergast, asked a guy who was smoking it, “Do you know what’s in it? What you’re smoking?”
“They have some of the herbs written on the back, but no, I don’t know particularly know what it is,” he said.
K2 is legal in most states, including Indiana, but just a few weeks ago K2 was banned in Kentucky; although anyone, with a few clicks of the mouse, can buy it over the internet.
Poison Control Centers across the country, including Louisville, have been getting calls landing users, mainly 17-to-29 years old, in the hospital with scary side effects.
It may be off the shelves in Kentucky, but in southern Indiana we found it quickly at a smoke shop in Clarksville. It’s marketed as incense, promising to make your house smell better.
But stores aren’t telling people not to smoke it.
Our reporter asked, “But it’s incense right? You’re not supposed to smoke it?”
“You can smoke it; that’s what they do smoke it,” was the answer.
And that’s what one 18-year-old, who didn’t want his face on camera, planned to do. We told him the dangers, but he said he didn’tcare.
K2 doesn’t show up on drug tests and he said that’s why he smokes it.
So is this an alternative to smoking marijuana. It’s a way not to get drug tested, or a way to pass a drug test and it’s all legal.
While our reporter was in the smoke shop, a woman walked in looking for an alternative to marijuana. She didn’t care what was in it, as long as it was legal.
She asked, “I have multiple sclerosis and marijuana is illegal. Does this have the same benefits?”
Poison control centers say they know so little about the drug that their biggest concern is what long-term effects it will have on people.
They do know it’s a huge risk for users to continue inhaling chemicals that are sending people to the hospital.
Chris Kiviniemi said, “I trust they aren’t going to sell anything that will kill me in the long run.”
Henry Spiller said, “It’s Russian roulette.”
Our reporter talked with the DEA and they said they are watching the drug. and now call it a drug of concern.
The drug was never intended for smoking, it was originally invented to help with animal research.
