Designer drugs a growing poisoning threat

By Charles Sowell  

JULY 7, 2011 11:52 a.m. (0)

To the stings, snakebites and bad deviled eggs of summer add another concern – new designer drugs that can have horrific health effects, officials at the University of South Carolina’s Palmetto Poison Center warn.

“I’m almost reluctant to talk about these designer drugs,” said Christina Derienvo, education coordinator with the poison center. “Part of me, as a mom, doesn’t want to put too much knowledge out there out of a fear more kids will use them if they know about them.”

She said the center sees a spike in the traditional poisoning sources during the summer months; the stings, snakebites and usual suspects that come with more outside activity during warmer weather.

“We get something on the order of 37,000 calls in any given year,” she said. “And we see a spike in call numbers during the summer months. What gives us the most problem, though, are calls involving adverse reactions or overdoses with these designer drugs.”

Designer drugs skate a thin line between what is legal and illegal in the eyes of law enforcement. Often there is only a molecule or two differences between a legal drug and an illegal one.

The effects of things like synthetic marijuana are similar to the real thing in the high. Often the high actually lasts longer than with the real thing. But the side effects are also radically different and they vary according to slight differences in the chemical soup used to produce the drug.

One designer drug, euphemistically known as bath salts, is a prime example in South Carolina right now, Derienvo said. “It can have terrible side effects that can and do kill people.”

The salts, sold under innocuous names like “White Rush,” “Ivory Wave,” or Vanilla Sky” are chemically similar to methamphetamines and are legal – at least for now – in South Carolina.

Data from the poison center shows about 35 cases of poisoning involving bath salts reported since the beginning of the year. It is a tremendous increase from the two cases reported in 2010.

Another issue with the designer drugs, so far as poison control is concerned, is that the side effects vary and can mimic other disorders in things high fever that can be associated with a many disorders.

The side effects vary due to slight differences in the chemicals used in designer drugs. There’s no such thing as Food and Drug Administration standards for producing quasi-legal substances.

“When you look at the normal things we get calls on (bee stings, snake bites and the like) designer drugs present some unique problems and we have to scramble to figure out just what we’re dealing with,” she said.

For emergencies contact the poison center at 1-800-222-1222.