We recently shared with you a brief history of synthetic drugs, highlighting the dangers of these drugs in the future. As the synthetic drug landscape widens, new variations of drugs like “bath salts” (MDPV) and synthetic cannabis are sending hundreds of people to emergency rooms across the country. These types of products are sprayed with chemicals that mimic the effects of traditional mind altering drugs, but lack the chemical consistency which makes the side effects both unpredictable and dangerous.
One of the latest synthetic drugs to hit the streets is known as Flakka (alpha-PVP). Flakka is a drug which is as potent as a stimulant, and therefore as addictive as its chemical cousin MDPV, Science Daily reports. The findings come from researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).
Recently, a number of southern states, especially Florida have seen increased incidents of Flakka use among citizens. The side-effects associated with Flakka use include, but are not limited to:
- Extreme Violence
- Paranoid Psychoses
- Compulsive Nudity
- Zombie-like Behavior
- Superhuman Strength
“There have been assertions that flakka is somehow worse than MDPV, but this study shows that the two are very similar,” said Michael A. Taffe, an associate professor at TSRI.
While Flakka may not be worse than bath salts, drugs which have been tied to a number of horrific news stories, co-senior author of the study, TSRI Associate Professor Tobin J. Dickerson added, “That doesn’t mean that flakka use is ‘safe’ — our data show that flakka is as potent as MDPV, making it a very good stimulant, arguably with worse addiction liability than methamphetamine.”
Potential users of synthetic drugs need to understand that they are taking huge risks when they use these types of chemicals. View little, if any in some cases, human testing is conducted with chemicals like MDPV and alpha-PVP – there is no way of knowing what kind of side-effects the user will experience.
The findings were published in the journal Psychopharmacology.
