PITTSBURGH — Most of the attention has been on heroin over the past year. But, another drug has quietly been making its way into Western Pennsylvania at an alarming rate.
Channel 11's Katherine Amenta uncovered that local emergency rooms are having trouble treating the effects.
FREE APPS | NOW | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
- 11-year-old killed, 16-year-old critically injured in shooting
- 167,000 pounds of ground beef recalled over possible E. coli contamination
- Woman sneaks into zoo, gets bitten by tiger
- PHOTO GALLERY: Celebrity Halloween costumes 2015
It's a synthetic drug that sends users into an out of control, removed from reality, high.
Before flakka, there were bath salts and other lab-manufactured drugs, like Spice and K2.
In 2011, 12-year-old Brandon Rice, of North Huntington, died after smoking K2.
Now, in 2015, Dr. Michael Lynch has seen flakka first-hand.
"You can snort it, you can smoke it, you can put it under your tongue," said Lynch.
After flakka originated in Florida three years ago, it's now spreading across the country, including right here in Pittsburgh.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Pennsylvania saw more than 300 cases last year.
"What we're seeing is late teens, early 20s," said Lynch. "They can be from the city, from surrounding areas."
And now Channel 11 uncovered that ERs are having a difficult time diagnosing this psychotic behavior because toxicology testing won't work on it.
"Sometimes we can't differentiate it from that versus a methamphetamine...all we can do is calm them down and keep them safe," said Lynch.
Lynch says local health professionals and state officials are now working together to alert ERs and first responders about flakka.
"How to look out for them, how to test for them, and most importantly, how to treat them," said Lynch.
As for treatment, doctors mostly have to wait for the effects to wear off, revealing a long list of possible long-term damage.
"Their heart rate and blood pressure are both taking off," explained Lynch. "They can suffer bleeding in the brain, heart attacks and cardiac arrest."
Lynch says even though flakka is spreading right now, he thinks it will eventually fall by the wayside.
Unfortunately, he says, another version will quickly take its place.
WPXI
