By DAVID CRUZ

Across 24-hour bodegas in the Norwood/Bedford Park area, buying synthetic marijuana requires little to no screening. Its legality is caught in murky technicalities, and virtually no enforcement, leaving prosecutors little room to try a synthetic marijuana case.

Emergency room visits across the city have spiked because of synthetic marijuana, known by many nicknames—spice, AK-47, Scooby Doo and more commonly, K2.

Its unrelenting usage, particularly among younger Bronxites, has driven Community Board 7 to host a K2 forum on May 26, with members convening a panel of experts at the 17^th floor of North Central Bronx Hospital.

“A lot of the Board had no clue what it is, we had no idea,” said Adaline Walker-Santiago, the chairwoman of Community Board 7. “If you have kids, you’ll get worried.”

Walker-Santiago organized the panel, with law enforcement officials from the 52^nd Precinct and Bronx District Attorney’s Office expected to be on hand.

K2 has been prevalent mostly in Central and West Harlem in Manhattan, with bodegas regularly selling packets behind the counter. Its prevalence prompted the New York City Health Department to dispatch inspectors to area stores, warning owners that the sale of synthetic marijuana is illegal.

But despite this, K2 remains on the streets. Its ingredients are inconsistent, but its side effects pack a punch, with substances such as rat poison often mixed into the drug.

“The hallucinogenic component of the drug is what sends them to another land,” said Dr. Ernest Patti, the head emergency room doctor for St. Barnabas Hospital and the forum’s keynote speaker. “They say they want to jump off buildings, they say they want to do crazy things like cross Fordham Road in the middle of traffic.”

Dr. Patti routinely treats patients who’ve consumed K2. They often arrive to the ER aggressive, paranoid and nearly uncontrollable. Other symptoms linked to K2 use include nausea, vomiting, high blood pressures, tremor, and seizures. The effects mirror those using PCP.

Its substance has crept up to Norwood and Bedford Park’s bodegas, where colorful K2 packets can be spotted over the counter at stores along 198^th Street. Though the packets suggest that the substance is not for human consumption, and at times incense or potpourri, experts suggest that it’s simply a ploy to avoid legal authority.

“Despite what the package might say, there’s no way of knowing exactly what synthetic marijuana contains,” said DOH Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett in a press release statement. “The consequences of using synthetic marijuana are unpredictable and I urge people not to use these dangerous and illegal drugs.”

Prosecuting Cases

But finding a legal basis to prosecute defendants has proven difficult given some loopholes the Bronx District Attorney’s Office hasn’t gotten around.

The DA’s Office, known to turn away marijuana use cases, admits its hands are tied when prosecuting synthetic drug use cases given the lack of legal standard linked to its use.

“[W]e have not yet initiated [a case] because of the difficulty in getting the proof that’s needed to sustain a prosecution under current laws,” said Terry Raskin, spokeswoman for the Bronx DA.

But the loophole exploited comes down to the availability of technology needed to quickly analyze the chemical makeup of synthetic drugs. Certain chemicals, for instance, contain rat poison, a legal chemical that’s purchased over the counter and yet included in the cocktail of K2. That kind of testing is unavailable, giving K2 manufacturers, and users, the upper hand.

“Producers of K2 are constantly changing the composition of the drug, based not only upon availability of substances, but also to keep one step ahead of the law,” said Raskin.

Editor’s Note: BronxNet television will air the forum live. Seating is available only to 100 residents. For more information call (718) 933-5650.

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.