Designer Drug Flakka on Rise in Ohio

Aug. 28--Flakka, a designer drug, continues to show up across the Dayton region even though it can make users sick, induce paranoia and cause erratic behavior.

Most people know that heroin, crack-cocaine, PCP and other narcotics are dangerous and can be deadly, police said.

But flakka and other designer drugs are new enough that local residents, especially young people, do not realize or understand their potential risks.

Local users have required medical attention or other assistance after overheating, entering psychotic episodes and acting abnormally, officials said. This year, the local crime lab has seen an uptick in substances testing positive for flakka's main chemicals.

"It's curiosity and stupidity, and it's usually used among youth and young adults," said Montgomery County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Brem, commander of the RANGE Task Force.

Flakka, sometimes called gravel, is a man-made drug that can be snorted, smoked and injected. The addictive stimulant looks like crystal salt.

The drug has been around for about a decade, but it crept into Montgomery County in the last five years, said Ann Stevens, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services.

"It is a derivative of a bath salt," she said. "People make it and you don't know what chemicals are in it and so therefore you don't know what you're ingesting."

Baths salts, which come in a white or brown powder, have an amphetamine-like effect on users and cause severe and persistent hallucinations.

So far this year, the Montgomery County crime lab tested 11 substances that contained flakka's main chemicals.

That was up from seven positive tests in 2014 and five in 2013. In 2012, 62 substances sent to the local crime lab tested positive for the chemicals used to make flakka.

Flakka's main chemicals were similar, if not identical, to those used to make bath salts. The chemicals were banned in March 2013, but previously they were in products available for sale at smoke shops and some gas stations.

People are buying flakka from online black markets and through street dealers, who sometimes cut the drug with rat poison and ammonia.

Flakka produces a hallucinogenic high that causes an elevated heart rate and increased blood pressure.

Flakka users often are young adults who think the drug will be entertaining and fun based on online videos they've seen of people getting high on the drug and songs that mention it, Brem said.

But the drug can cause severe bouts of paranoia, detachment from reality and psychosis, he warned.

"There can be long-lasting psychotic results," he said.

The street drug can cause physical deterioration among users.

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