IRON MOUNTAIN -- This isn't the spice you'll find in grandma's cabinet. It's the legal cannabinoid that mimics the active ingredient in marijuana, and its users are finding out the hard way the dangers that come with it.
"Well, they smoked the stuff and they had a very bad psychoactive reaction to it. At least one of them; a couple other ones wound up passing out, the other one was completely out of her mind and didn't know what was going on," said Sgt. David Irwin.
Sgt. Irwin has dealt with kids as young as 14 who have been on the drug, which can be bought at local smoke shops less than a block from the school.
“It scares the hell out of me. I have a 13-year-old son," said Lisa Wahoviak.
The state of Michigan has already banned the sale of the popular K2 spice, however, the sellers are finding ways to keep the product on the market.
The spice manufacturers are able to get away with this through various loopholes in the law. For example, if the government bans one chemical used in the product, they'll simply use a different one. As the product reads "not for human consumption," they can't ban the actual product, only the individual chemicals used.
Iron Mountain High School has taken steps to ban the drug in school, and they held discussion on a possible town ban at the meeting Monday night. This ban would be tricky, though, because the drug isn't illegal. The school and police officers want people to be aware of the dangers this drug poses.
"Not only do we see a change in behavior, a change in personality, a change in attitudes, students become very aggressive, combative, argumentative, but we also see a physical change where sometimes kids can hardly hold their heads up,” said Mary-Ann Boddy, the Iron Mountain High School/Middle School principal.
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