There is a new designer drug called “Smiles” that is making its mark. The “Sons of Anarchy” star Johnny Lewis is suspected of attacking and killing his landlady and then jumping off or falling off a balcony where he then died while under the influence of Smiles. The drug is a hallucinogenic chemically named 2C-I and is classified as a schedule-I controlled substance or simply illegal. "Basically it's a very pure and potent form of ecstasy or MDMA," Dessa Bergen-Cico, professor of Public Health at Syracuse University said. "So it's not necessarily a new drug, but a more potent form of it. It has a psychedelic effect so it can be associated with visual hallucinations, distortions. It's not the same as LSD, but like with peyote, mescaline, and LSD, where there's a potential for hallucination with visual effects, depending on the mental state of the person, they could have a pretty horrific trip." The drug is sold in powder, pill or liquid form and is marketed as a drug that will give hallucinogenic effects. Rusty Payne, spokesman for the DEA, reports that it can cause hallucinations, anxiety, panic attacks and seizures.
ABC Good Morning America October 1, 2012.
James Mowry, Director of Indiana’s Poison Control states that overdoses on the drug are rising and are known to cause seizures, kidney failure and fatally high blood pressure. "They do something that is called 'uncoupling. Basically, their muscles get to the point they cannot uncontract, so they sort of get rigid and then their temperature goes up really high and if you don't treat them really aggressively, those people usually end up dying." The article explained that a 17-year old teen used the drug, went to McDonald’s and began hyperventilating and slamming his head against the wall. The teen later died and his 18-year old friend, who provided the drug was charged with third degree murder.
Yahoo/Shine/Healthy Living September 20, 2012