While the US battles an opioid (pain-killers) drug use crisis, a new serious trend is gaining ground where citizens are using Bug Spray, namely, Raid, to get high. Over the past 12 months, this has alarmed US health officials. The trend was first noticed in Tennessee and Mississippi and recently, the state of Indiana has now seen a trend growing in the past few months, the Dailymail.UK and Indy Star reported on Monday
When humans are exposed to high levels of the active elements used in bug sprays, it can create a trance-like state along with unpredictable bouts of anger, seizures, as well as trouble breathing.
Police and emergency personnel respond
EMT’s and other emergency personnel have had a difficult time in staying abreast of the changes with medications that are combined with household cleaners and chemicals for over 10 years. Experts have stated that if the growing trend of the use of bug spray-laced drugs to get high is halted, another household agent will replace it.
During the month of January (2018), medical personnel responded to 17 emergency calls pertaining to those who possibly overdosed on “Katie”, also known as “KD” (bug spray-laced drugs), which is another mixture-type of spice laced with some unknown chemical or unknown type of drug that was found close to a homeless shelter, the Wheeler Mission, in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana.
A man in Tennessee in December 2017 confessed that he had smoked what has been termed as, “Wasp” which is a mix of insect spray and methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) prior to breaking into a house and then attempting to cut himself while sitting at the dinner table. Police in Mississippi have issued warnings to the public of a new threatening drug, dubbed “hot shots”, in 2017 in which a person takes wasp/hornet spray, and then crystallizes it with a battery of some type before they melt it to a liquid form and then inject themselves intravenously.
Drug dealer’s trending choice to make money
Bug spray is loaded with numerous toxic ingredients. Exposure in very small amounts is generally safe but, in higher amounts of exposure can cause respiratory troubles as well as the nervous system to become over-active. When the nervous system becomes hyperactive, it will cause sweating, severe muscle spasms, seizures, and can lead to the person deteriorating and ending up in a coma.
“It's why we use it on bugs - because it overstimulates the bug, they have the equivalent of seizures and die,” Indiana Poison Center's medical director informed the IndyStar. An Indiana Firefighter also stated to the IndyStar that the KD bags are being sold on the streets for approximately $20 and create a comatose type-high for roughly 45 minutes. The poison center director also said that drug dealers, by mixing chemicals, such as bug spray with street drugs, are now another avenue for dealers to increase their revenue.
