More than a dozen people hospitalized in New York after smoking synthetic marijuana

  • The victims were concentrated in Harlem and Chelsea
  • Hospitalizations from use of the drug - made illegal in 2012 - have risen 220 per cent since last year, officials said

By Ryan Gorman

Published: 17:13 EST, 28 July 2014 | Updated: 17:13 EST, 28 July 2014

More than a dozen people wound up in New York hospitals over the weekend after smoking synthetic marijuana.

At least 15 people were hospitalized after using the poisonous pot imposter known as ‘K2’ and ‘Spice’ to get high, authorities said.

All of the victims who experienced ‘severe adverse reactions’ lived in Chelsea and Harlem, law enforcement sources told WNBC.

Synthetic pot: The vile concoction landed 15 people in the hospital over the past weekend

Synthetic pot: The vile concoction landed 15 people in the hospital over the past weekend

‘K2, Spice, Green Giant – no matter what you call it, synthetic cannabinoids are dangerous and illegal,’ Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett told the station. 

‘I urge people not to use these products, which have caused a huge spike in emergency room visits this year.’

ER visits as a result of synthetic weed have shot up 220 per cent, according to the New York Post.

Some of the symptoms over adverse reactions include seizures and hallucinations, WABC reported.
The synthetic marijuana was made illegal in 2012.

Louisiana officials called the fake drugs ‘a poison’ in comments earlier this month to The Advocate.

‘It’s not really anything like marijuana,’ Dr. Beau Clark, East Baton Rouge Parish’s coroner, told the paper. ‘The effects have been unpredictable.’

No one has died from taking the harmful drugs, but a man reportedly beat a dog to death with a brick after consuming them in June.