S.A.T (Student Awareness Tools)

Synthetic Evolution‘Designer’ drugs quickly becoming the new norm for high school students.
Story // Preslie Hirsch and Sarah Dinell

An epidemic permeating high schools is sweeping the nation:synthetic drug use. Made chemically, synthetic drugs include Spice, K2, methamphetamine, amphetamine, Ecstasy, LSD, synthetic marijuana, synthetic cocaine, synthetic heroin and most prescription drugs. These types of drugs are growing in popularity because—unlike natural substances like marijuana, cocaine and heroin—the production of synthetic drugs isn’t limited to various agricultural and geographical regions.

Synthetic drug labs can be set up anytime, anywhere, thus making them more prevalent and accessible among teens. Synthetic Evolution ‘Designer’ drugs quickly becoming the new norm for high school students. Another contributing factor to the increase in synthetic drug use is the amount of easily accessible information about these drugs. “In the age of the Internet, kids have more information to do more things,” says Geffen Liberman, a Chandler based addiction specialist and drug abuse therapist. “You can look up information on pain killers or Spice, for example. [Kids have] unsupervised access to people who’ve had experience [with drugs] and who can literally ‘sell’ someone on the idea of [using] it.” Synthetic drug use is also on the rise because alcohol and marijuana, the most commonly abused substances among teens, have become socially acceptable among high school students. “The envelope has been pushed. It used to be that smoking pot was rebellious. That’s not the case anymore,”Liberman says. “Subconsciously, [teens are] moving into the next realm.”And while all drugs are dangerous, synthetic drugs can be even more so. They are often stronger and contain higher addiction properties. Harmful side effects can include high blood pressure, a higher risk for a heart attack or stroke, temporary paralysis, seizures, the inability to speak, paranoia and suicidal tendencies. But what significantly differentiates synthetic drugs from natural substances is the fact that synthetic drugs don’t always show up on drugs tests. “Drug tests specifically look for a certain structure [in drugs]. If that structure isn’t found in blood or urine, then the test won’t find it,” says Jon Evans, a Corona del Sol campus police officer. “There are tests that detect Spice, but they’re about $100. Spice won’t show up on basic drugs
tests that cost about $25.” If being extremely dangerous to your health isn’t bad enough, factor in that synthetic drugs are also fairly
easy to obtain. Until Feb. 22, Spice was legal in Arizona, available in retail stores and online. To purchase it, the only requirement was that the customer had to be at least 18 years old. Now, anyone caught making, selling or possessing Spice can be charged with a Class 2 felony,
which carries a minimum sentence of four years in prison. Spice was originally legal because it was packaged as incense, with a disclaimer stating “not for human consumption.” Although these substances—incense, bath salts, potpourri and even insect repellant—are marked
as such, users are smoking, snorting or injecting them, which leads to one of the major issues of synthetic drugs. While the chemicals that make up synthetic drugs can be deemed illegal, all it takes is a little chemical tweak to make it legal again. Thus, it’s extremely difficult to stop the pattern of synthetic drugs. Fortunately, state and local governments are cracking down. The Tempe Union High School District, for instance,
is making an effort to prevent the use of Spice and other synthetic drugs. According to Phoenix Criminal Law News,associate superintendent Greg Wyman announced at a parent meeting last December that students who possess or distribute Spice will be suspended for 10 or more days.
At the time of the announcement, there had been less than a dozen known Spice incidents in the district. However, there had been students in the district who had been hospitalized from using Spice, thus the reason for the ruling.“We have definitely seen an increase in emergency room cases [involving Spice] from last year to this year,”says Dr. Michael Levine, medical toxicologist with Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information. Drug abuse is a problem, but it can start for common reasons. Many students begin using drugs because they feel hopeless or stressed in an everyday high school environment. “There are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with who they are or how they feel on
a day-to-day basis, and that’s normal,” Liberman says.“Most people can understand the lure to want to alter that and to feel different. However,
there are so many other alternatives for people other than the medicine cabinet.”

➤ This issue’s SATs were developed and produced by students at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Ariz