Synthetic drugs are an unfortunately confusing case of terminology, as most street drugs undergo a lengthy chemical process to make it to the consumer level. However, unlike drugs like alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and even heroin, which are all based on natural plant crops, synthetic drugs are produced in a lab through a mixture of chemicals and require no crop or major field to source their base ingredients.
Instead, synthetic drugs can be produced anywhere given the right equipment, without the need to source vast amounts of plant material from a tract of land. This makes them easy to produce, transport, smuggle in base form and distribute all over the globe, bypassing international law by getting sold online as research material. These dangerous new drugs have come to be described by public health officials as “new psychoactive substances”, or NPS.
Synthetic drugs come in many shapes and sizes, with different names and dangers. We will go over some of the more common examples, and exactly why they are so extremely dangerous – and why they have grown in popularity recently.
What Are Synthetic Drugs?
Synthetic drugs typically count any drugs developed chemically as an alternate version of an existing psychotropic compound, in an attempt (usually) to bypass the law. Also known as designer drugs, these are man-made compounds often capable of a much more powerful high of a similar kind to its natural analog.
For example, cannabis affects the brain in a very specific way. The active compound in cannabis, THC, binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain and affects your motor function, memory, feelings, pain tolerance, cognition and more.
It has different effects based on how much of the drug is taken, and based on a person’s own individual brain structure, mood at the time, and reaction to the drug. Some people use medicinal marijuana as a prescribed treatment for certain mental health problems, while others smoke or ingest the drug and end up spending hours doing practically nothing.
Synthetic cannabis is far viler. While it is similar in that it binds to the same receptors as THC, it is a far more addictive and powerful drug, and unlike THC, it can be quite easy to suffer from an overdose of synthetic cannabinoids. More on that below.
Aside from being analogous to “natural” drugs in that synthetic drugs bind to the same receptors their effects can be drastically different – and far more dangerous – than those of their already addictive counterparts.
Not all synthetic drugs are designed for addiction and recreational use. Many are developed first as medicine, or studied for medical efficacy, before eventually ending up somewhere far outside a lab. Some synthetic drugs – such as synthetic opioids – are still in use for certain conditions.
Synthetic Cannabinoids
Synthetic cannabinoids bind to the brain’s cannabinoid receptors but have little else to do with THC or cannabis. However, because of recent media around cannabis usage and its potential in certain industries, some people have mistakenly taken on the view that cannabis is completely safe – and that by extension, synthetic cannabis cannot be much worse.
Also known as K2, spice, fake weed and a series of other names, synthetic cannabinoids can be extremely toxic even in “normal” doses. They are typically produced by spraying the cannabinoid mixture onto dried plant material, which is then sold as “incense” or some other innocuous product. However, because of the uneven application of a spray bottle, one hit from the wrong bit of plant material can lead to dangerous side effects and even hospitalization.
Nausea, vomiting, and a dangerously high heart rate are just a few of the possible complications arising from synthetic cannabinoid use.
Synthetic Cathinones
Known infamously as “bath salts”, synthetic cathinones can lead to psychotic episodes and dangerous hallucinations. Cathinones are usually derived from khat, a plant indigenous to Africa and the Middle East, chewed much like South America’s coca plant (cocaine). On its own, chewed khat acts as a mild stimulant. Synthetic cathenones, on the other hand, are sold as cheap yet powerful stimulants with very nasty side effects.
Dubbed Bliss, White Lightning, Vanilla Sky, and a series of other names, synthetic cathinones or “bath salts” can lead to bouts of extreme paranoia, hallucinations, delirium, panic attacks and more.
Synthetic Opioids
A common synthetic opioid still used in the treatment of certain types of pain, including end-of-life, is fentanyl. Fentanyl is an incredibly potent and powerful opiate, several times stronger than heroin and morphine, and thus several times more dangerous. More than a few specs in your bloodstream at once is enough to stop your breathing, which is why it is often administered to patients in the form of a fentanyl lollipop.
However, fentanyl and its ludicrously toxic cousin, carfentanil, have also become part and parcel in certain productions of heroin. Some drug dealers are getting into the habit of cutting their heroin to save on costs, while increasing potency by mixing fentanyl into it. However, the mix ends up being uneven, and in many cases the result is a much more powerful product with certain hits here and there than can – and often enough are – fatal.
Carfentanil should never be used, let alone mixed into heroin. Its potency is so high that officials have dubbed it a nerve gas at one point, citing instances in drug raids where clouds of synthetic opiates from the raid were enough to hospitalize officers for complications from an overdose.
Why Synthetic Drugs Are So Dangerous
Synthetic drugs have become more dangerous than ever due to an influx of materials for local production right in America, as well as a demand for cheaper alternatives to existing drugs for people with the desperate need to get high, and a very low budget for it.
Aside from a reduced cost of production and distribution worldwide, new synthetic drug production out of markets in China fueled by the online drug market and black-market websites has led to the development and sale of many chemicals and finished product right into the US – and into the hands of unsuspecting addicts, causing overdose deaths to rocket up even further.
Drugs are bad – but synthetic drugs are a special kind of evil, in most cases and professional treatment with a stint in a sober living community is often necessary to break the hold synthetic drugs have on people.