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Health officials in the Midwest and South are alarmed by a new drug where one of the main ingredients may be bug spray.
The street drug is called KD, and it’s either marijuana or tobacco that has been blasted with bug spray. Police say they’ve found those who’ve taken the drug in catatonic, zombie-like states.
The active ingredients in bug spray are chemical compounds known as pyrethroids. They disrupt the nervous system of insects, causing stasis and death. And the reason they’re used commonly as insecticides is that they’re effective against bugs and relatively non-toxic to humans. But that doesn’t make it okay to smoke.
Authorities in Indianapolis say they receive dozens of KD-related medical calls per day, often for the same person multiple times a day. KD, or a related drug, has also been spotted in Mississippi and Tennessee.
Health experts are also worried about young people using KD because it’s so easily accessible. But SC Johnson, the company that produces Raid, is not happy that its product is being associated with a drug craze, and thinks medics might be mistaken about what’s in KD.
In a statement, they said: “According to our scientific experts, exposure to the active ingredients in these products would not cause the reported effects. Global authorities, including the WHO and the EPA for many decades, have studied these active ingredients and they have not reported ill effects like this. Additionally, even if these active ingredients were intentionally overused, these types of symptoms would not be associated with them, nor would the state last for 45 minutes.”
What do you guys think about people smoking weed laced with bug spray? Let us know in the comments below.
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