Brenda Flores can sum up her opinion on the use of synthetic marijuana in one word: stupid.

‘I think that synthetic marijuana, in general, is a stupid idea,’ said Flores, a junior international relations major. ‘The side effects to it are so much worse than regular marijuana. I don’t understand what the point of it is, really. I heard that it’s not even the same high.’

However, not everyone shares Flores’ opinion. Synthetic marijuana use has become a major problem in New York and across the nation recently. Calls to poison control centers concerning the substance have skyrocketed. In response to this, the New York State Department of Health banned the sale of synthetic marijuana Thursday in an order effective immediately.

Synthetic marijuana, often referred to as legal pot, is a mixture of herbal and chemical ingredients that mimic the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Katie Kernodle, a freshman public relations major, said students using synthetic marijuana as a substitute for marijuana is the biggest problem.

‘Real marijuana isn’t dangerous, but synthetic is, and people take it as the same thing and try to replace it, and it causes problems,’ she said.

Syracuse University public health professor Dessa Bergen-Cico said synthetic marijuana can be very dangerous for students because it is unpredictable, and students are often unfamiliar with the substance’s effects.

‘It’s more potent than regular cannabis,’ she said. ‘So if they try to smoke it in a way they might smoke weed, they’re going to have a very intense effect from it. It’s hard to gage what’s a tolerable limit.’

The side effects of synthetic marijuana can be worse than those of regular marijuana. Flores said a friend who used synthetic marijuana told her it produced a strangling feeling in her throat.

Bergen-Cico said she wasn’t surprised because people often have intense reactions to the substance, similar to the reactions one sees when people are badly allergic to something. Synthetic marijuana can be made using any number of combinations of herbs and chemicals. When people don’t know what is in the substance they’re using, or they take a substance they haven’t been exposed to before, a reaction like the one Flores’ friend described could occur.

Bergen-Cico said the perception that synthetic marijuana use has fewer consequences causes more students to use it.

‘I think they use it because it’s perhaps easier to get their hands on than marijuana, and it’s also less in terms of legal penalties and university penalties,’ she said.

Before the ban, synthetic marijuana was widely sold in New York smoke shops, gas stations and convenience stores. An employee at Exscape Smoke Shop on Marshall Street said the shop previously sold synthetic marijuana but stopped selling it in 2010. He declined to disclose other details about synthetic marijuana sales.

An employee at Down Under Leather, another smoke shop located on South Crouse Avenue, said the shop never sold synthetic marijuana and that he doesn’t know what synthetic marijuana is.

Though Bergen-Cico said she agrees that synthetic marijuana is a serious problem, she doesn’t believe banning it is a good solution. Instead, she said, the focus should be on evidence-based solutions, such as educating the public about the risks of these drugs and exploring why people use drugs like synthetic marijuana. People often get high because of social skills deficits and an inability to cope with stress, she said.

‘Those are much more complex issues, so it seems easier to say, ‘Let’s just make it illegal,’ and there’s the problem solved,’ she said.

jliannet@syr.edu 

Published on April 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta