In the recent past there has been an increase in the types and kinds of synthetic drugs. All have met with legal resistance and a plethora of negative side effects.

First there was the synthetic drug for marijuana, also called spice. 

Basically, it is comprised of a mixture of dried herbs and a synthetic chemical that is intended to mimic the high of marijuana. 

The drug received national coverage when the Drug Enforcement Agency classified it as a controlled substance due to the availability and use by young people. Up until that time it could be found in many gas stations and other specialty shops.

Now possession and sale of the drug is illegal.

Another recent synthetic drug is called bath salts, and was supposed to simulate the effects of a stimulant. This drug may have received the most media attention of all due to an attack that occurred in Miami, Fla. on a homeless man by a man that had used the drug.

The attack was especially gruesome because the suspect allegedly masticated part of the victim’s face during the attack.

It too used to be found in gas stations and some specialty shops until the government stepped in and banned its sale.

Now, there’s a new synthetic drug on the market, Lucy. According to reports along the Gulf Coast this drug is supposed to be synthetic LSD, producing the same hallucinogenic high as the drug from decades past.

This drug at times prompts users to become hostile, or experience scary visions.

A Coast newspaper reported this week that two young people on the drug had to be taken to the hospital, one had to be put into a medical coma. 

The medical coma was required after officers attempted twice to use a taser to bring him under  control. 

The electronic control device had no affect on him either time.

The message is clear, drugs cause negative side effects, no matter if they are synthetic or real. Like the old drug campaign once said, “just say no.”