Study: Synthetic Marijuana Fatal For Health

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Feb 04, 2017 11:54 AM EST

Marijuana compounds created clinically like K2 or Spice are the actual danger for the human health than the natural marijuana pot smoking. Several side effects are linked to synthetic marijuana among which the top are seizures, psychosis and even death, according to new study review.

The chronic and dangerous effects created by those compounds contain greater severity and frequency than found in natural marijuana as published in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences. That is why considering them alternate to marijuana is not safe, note the researchers

The synthetic marijuana manufacturers advertise their product as a "safe" alternative but the claims do not stand authentic on a standard drug test. The total number of synthetic marijuana is above 150. These contain the same ingredient of marijuana but their chemical structure is diverse and they are different from each other as well as from natural marijuana, reports Live Science.

In the early 2000s, "we started seeing all kinds of people coming into emergency rooms saying they smoked marijuana, but then they had these really bizarre symptoms that did not correspond with the affects you see with marijuana," Paul Prather, a cellular and molecular pharmacologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), said in a statement.

The poison center experts report that synthetic marijuana can induce life-threatening effects. They are highly addictive and lead to nightmares, nausea, heavy sweating, headaches, tremors, insomnia, fatigue, diarrhea, behavioral problems like neglect ion, blurred thinking, senselessness, etc. Some users have suffered paralysis, too, according to Drug Free World.

In the United States many of these synthetic compounds are illegal but the underground manufacturers develop new compounds in labs which are not legally prohibited or detectible in current drug tests. The side effects may include convulsions, kidney injury, toxicity to the heart, strokes and anxiety. So far, 20 deaths have been linked to the use of synthetic marijuana compounds, the researchers said.

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