Teen Narrowly Escapes Death After Smoking Synthetic Marijuana

(CNN) -- Hospital staff removed Emily Bauer's breathing tube and stopped all medication and nourishment at 1:15 p.m. December 16. Only morphine flowed into her body, as the family waited by her side in her final moments.

But the next morning, she was still alive.

"Good morning, I love you," her mother told Emily as she approached the bed.

A hoarse voice whispered back, "I love you too."

Emily was back.

Her family said the drug that landed the Cypress, Texas, teenager, then 16, in the ICU two weeks earlier wasn't bought from a dealer or offered to her at a party. It was a form of synthetic weedpackaged as "potpourri" that she and friends bought at a gas station.

Best known by the street names "Spice" or "K2," fake weed is an herbal mixture sprayed with chemicals that's meant to create a high similar to smoking marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Advertised as a "legal" alternative to weed, it's often sold as incense or potpourri and in most states, it's anything but legal.

Synthetic marijuana was linked to 11,406 drug-related emergency department visits in 2010, according to a first-of-its-kind report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This is when it first started showing up on health providers' radar, as the Drug Abuse Warning Nework detected a measurable number of emergency visits.

Who wound up in the emergency room the most? Children ages 12 to 17.

The first state laws banning synthetic drugs popped up in 2010. Now at least 41 states -- including Texas, where Emily lives -- and Puerto Rico have banned them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Older legislation targeted specific versions of the drug, but the makers of Spice were a step ahead.

"These drug manufacturers slightly change the chemical compound, and it becomes a different substance that's not covered by the law," said NCSL policy specialist Alison Lawrence. "That's why in 2011 and 2012, we saw the states enacting these broader language bans."

Courts Rule to Keep Marijuana Listed as a Schedule I Drug

Marijuana will continue to be considered a dangerous drug under federal law with no accepted medical uses, after a U.S. appeals court this week refused to order a change in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s drug classification schedule. 

The marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access went to court, arguing that federal officials had a duty to reexamine the medical evidence and reclassify marijuana as a drug that has clear benefits as a pain medication. 

"To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies [with] a large number of patients. To date, such studies have not been performed," the DEA said in defense of its decision. The passage was quoted in Tuesday's opinion. 

Judge Harry Edwards, writing for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said the judges did not dispute that "marijuana could have some medical benefits." Instead, he said, they were not willing to overrule the DEA because they had not seen large "well-controlled studies" that proved the medical value of marijuana. 

The pro-pot group wants to take their case to the Supreme Court to ask the federal government to reconsider federal law that makes possession of marijuana a crime at the federal level, but legal for recreational use in Washington and Colorado. 

The DEA stands by its remarks in the Federal Register, concluding that there is no substantial evidence that marijuana should be removed from schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act. The administration said that marijuana continues to meet the criteria for schedule I control under the CSA because: 

(1) Marijuana has a high potential for abuse. 

(2) Marijuana has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. 

(3) Marijuana lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision. 

“CADCA is pleased that the U.S. Appeals Court refused to overrule the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical uses,” said CADCA’s Chairman and CEO General Arthur T. Dean. “Stances like this give our coalitions a ‘call to arms.’ Don’t think what happened in Colorado and Washington is an excuse to give up. The power of coalitions has made a difference in their communities with other drugs and alcohol. We know that they will continue to push back against marijuana to keep their communities safe, healthy and drug-free.” 

Cast your vote to keep federal restrictions on marijuana athttp://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/22/16646527-marijuana-restrictions-appeals-court-backs-dea-rejects-pot-advocates-argument?lite.

CADCA Disseminates National Sign on Letter to Protect Substance Abuse Prevention Funding From Cuts under Sequestration

Congress has been, and continues to, work on a deal to avert the “fiscal cliff.” If Congress does not reach an agreement by the end of February, all substance abuse prevention programs would be subject to an 8% across the board cut. CADCA drafted and coordinated a letter signed by 16 national organizations, urging Congress to protect substance abuse prevention programs from these cuts. CADCA also mobilized its members in key congressional states and districts to send similar letters. 

The letter reiterates the facts that: 1) over the past seven years, federal investments in youth drug prevention programs have already been cut by 47.3%; and 2) we have already begun to see the ramifications of these cuts, as youth drug use rates have increased during the same time frame. The letter urges Congress to ensure that the small core set of federally funded substance use/abuse prevention programs that are critical to, and effective in, reducing youth substance use rates are not cut. 

These programs include: 

• The Drug Free Communities (DFC) program, funded in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP); 

• The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, funded in ONDCP; 

• The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), including funding for the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking programs, funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); 

• The 20% Prevention Set Aside Within the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, funded in SAMHSA; and 

• The Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Program (EUDL), funded through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Department of Justice. 

CADCA will continue to monitor the programs of interest to our field as the sequestration process moves forward

FDA panel opposes pure hydrocodone painkiller

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government health experts overwhelmingly voted against a stronger version of hydrocodone on Friday, questioning the need for a new form of one of most widely abused prescription painkillers.

The Food and Drug Administration's panel of pain specialists voted 11-2 with one abstention against Zohydro for moderate to severe chronic pain. The drug was developed as a long-acting pain reliever by San Diego-based Zogenix Inc.

The FDA is not required to follow the group's recommendation, though it often does so.

The panelists acknowledged that the pill would likely reduce pain, but worried it would exacerbate the national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.

"I think the sponsor fulfilled the expectations of FDA, however I think the entire class is problematic in terms of abuse and safety issues," said professor James Ware of the Harvard School of Public Health.

If approved, Zohydro would be the first pure hydrocodone medication available in the U.S. Currently available products combine the drug with lower-grade painkillers such as acetaminophen.

Hydrocodone is prescribed to treat pain from injuries, surgery, arthritis, migraines and a variety of other ailments.

Hydrocodone-containing pills consistently rank as the first or second most-abused medicines in the U.S., according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The drug belongs to a family of medicines known as opiates or opioids because they are chemically similar to opium. They include morphine, heroin, oxycodone, codeine, methadone and hydromorphone.

Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. Several panelists said the risks of fatal overdose with opioids swayed their vote against Zohydro.

"I have traveled around the country and I have seen the repercussions of opioids — they are a threat to public health," said consumer panelist, Rodney Mullins, of the Health Promotion and Advisory Council.

In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control estimated 14,800 deaths were related to opioids.

Zogenix has touted the benefits of its long-lasting pill, which only needs to be taken once every 12 hours, compared with every four to six hours for combination drugs like Vicodin. The company also notes that patients taking pure hydrocodone would not be at risk for acetaminophen-related liver side effects.

Panel Chairman Randall Flick of the Mayo Clinic abstained from voting, but suggested Zogenix might reformulate the drug to make it more difficult to abuse. Drug abusers often crush or dissolve pills in liquid to unlock their extended release mechanism and get an intense high.

"It is my view that tamper-resistant formulations are likely to reduce the incidence of morbidity and mortality associated with this class of drugs," Flick said.

In recent years the FDA has begun prodding drugmakers to develop more sophisticated pain relievers that are harder to abuse, but such measures are not a requirement.

Zogenix said it would focus sales on 15% of the 330,000 U.S. health professionals who prescribe high-strength prescription painkillers. The company said it would to monitor prescribing patterns and visit physicians who appear to be writing more prescriptions than normal.

Shares of San Diego-based Zogenix were halted ahead of the meeting and last traded at $2.36.

New Bath Salts Research Available to Coalitions

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, has released electronically-published research on “bath salts” applicable to coalition work.

“DrugFacts: Synthetic Cathinones (“Bath Salts”) details new research on what this emerging category of drugs does to the brain. The term “bath salts” refers to an emerging and dangerous family of drugs containing one or more synthetic chemicals related to cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant found naturally in the Khat plant. 

Dr. Michael Baumann, NIDA staff scientist and researcher, said the DrugFacts publication is part of the ongoing designer drug initiative with various federal partners including the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

To avoid confusion when describing the drug in coalition educational campaigns and advocacy work, Dr. Baumann recommends calling the drugs Synthetic Cathinones, also referred to as ‘bath salts,’ since the drugs are not pleasantly-scented bubble bath. 

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Bliss and Vanilla Sky, or referred to as innocuous, everyday items like ‘plant food,’ synthetic cathinones contain chemicals that can cause amphetamine like reactions such as hallucinations, paranoia, rapid and irregular heartbeats and suicidal thoughts. All of these names and seemingly infinite chemical alterations by mostly overseas synthetic chemists are to skirt regulatory control, they are not really something that one would want to put in their body, Dr. Baumann said. 

“As we continue to with the DEA, our piece is to determine the risk, pharmacology and toxicology. We know that these are synthetic stimulants, so we have been studying what are the drugs out there? What are these drugs actually doing? What’s the toxicology?” he said.

Dr. Baumann also notes that very little is known about how these substances interact with other drugs and alcohol.

“In the lab, we’re only beginning to unravel what these drugs are doing to the brain and the body,” he said. CADCA’s members have worked at the local, state and federal levels on policies that have identified retailers and contributed to banning the drugs’ use. Many contributed their recommendations to amend the Controlled Substances Act and designate certain synthetic substances as schedule I drugs. ‘Bath salts’ and a number of synthetic marijuana compounds will now be banned across the country. Internet sales have been problematic, however.

“There are individuals who actually document their trips online for others to learn from,” Dr. Baumann said. 

The 2012 Monitoring the Future survey on nation-wide teen drug use will include bath salts for the first time. Survey results will be released Dec. 19.