iOS 84 it's starting tonight oh right
here Stephanie go around there's a
patient on the other side so this is a
suspected k2 patient how all of them
right now that's what I was just
speaking to the medics about this is
their fourth call here tonight
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we're out with the Glen Oaks Volunteer
Ambulance crew in Queens New York
they're responding to an emergency call
for a bad reaction to k2 a drug made in
a lab to mimic the effects of marijuana
open your eyes what did you do tonight
you just arrived at the psychiatric
hospital here in Queens there's been
reports of someone who's unconscious and
our team's responding to it right now
but we can't get out of the ambulance
cuz we can't actually film on hospital
grounds you're locked you got it
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would you smoke tonight three bags of
what did you smoke a to tonight yeah so
what's going on how you feeling right
now open your eyes do you know where you
are right now no you don't okay
what's your biggest concern right now
with them to make sure you maintain
Suzanne right yeah that is breathing's
okay I'm getting is
going out for whatever we got that yeah
and another conscious yet he probably
knows where he said can't answer me
right
hello
got it okay you look we just had a k2
patient in here he was kind of going in
and out as I'm so typical yeah that's my
typical k2 patient they usually go in
and out when I get went in there he's
he's not making any sense he was
responding to my voice but not
responding to my questions we're seeing
that the k2 patients their blood
pressures are dropping and that's what's
causing them to crash it's getting bad
because it's consistently happened now
it's not even a break in the day like
they're doing it all the time now k2 is
a brand name for synthetic marijuana
it's sold in small packets sometimes for
as little as $5 it's shredded plant
material sprayed with chemicals that get
people high it's often sold in corner
stores and gas stations as potpourri and
labeled not for human consumption each
batch has a different chemical compound
it's tough because with it being the
price that it is it's the cheapest way
to get hot Travis Kessel is with
Ridgewood volunteer ambulance corps like
Cathy he's seeing more k2 cases for just
a dollar a joint he says more people are
using the drug the majority of his k2
calls are here in Brooklyn so who's
coming here to buy things like k2 and
spice it's almost entirely the whole
it's a socio-economic issue
up for drugs right now it's cheap it's
able to be replicated it's sold openly
in stores like bodegas and it's just
playing off of the homeless population
it's killing them absolutely is every
patient is a different story because
every batch of k2 is a different story
Travis points out what he says is a k2
deal so I asked the buyer if he can show
me how easy it is to get some can I ask
you how tough it is to get site yeah
like I just get it anywhere
okay
he buys k2 here regularly but says when
the shopkeepers saw me with him they
wouldn't sell it to us looks like no one
has any right now there's no question
we're in the right place we just found
this empty bag of k2 right here it's
called smacked and it's labeled
potpourri but what we learned is that it
all comes down to trust unless the guys
in the deli actually know you there's no
way they're gonna sell it to you well
once you've built up that level of trust
you can get as much k2 as you need in
between calls Travis and his team hang
out across the street from a store known
to sell k2 they say it's inevitable
they'll get another call from this block
and can't do anything to stop it
that's because k2 exists in a legal gray
area makers of the drug try to stay one
step ahead of law enforcement by
slightly altering its chemical structure
to create new compounds that haven't yet
been classified as illegal and the
problem is growing us poison control
centers receive more than 6,000 k2 calls
in the first nine months of 2015 that's
almost double the total calls for 2014
and a quarter of those calls are coming
from New York where k2 worth thirty
million dollars on the street was seized
in September you just can't say oh this
guy's smoking k2 and he's flipping and
he's doing that when this so much other
stuff that's on that person's plate you
know Evelyn Millan works at vocal New
York a group that works with drug users
she says there's too much focus on
arresting k2 sellers instead of
understanding why users are smoking it
in the first place what do you see is
kind of the future of k2 or synthetic
drug use I mean how how can you really
stop something like that we could never
stop things like this from happening the
bottom line is that disa fiery is never
gonna be a drug-free Society
whether it's synthetic or not like I
said getting to know what people are
going through people should be able to
have housing because what the people
that are smoking k2
mostly people that have a mental illness
that are homeless that are out in the
street you know if you sleep and you eat
and you have a place where you're safe
you know the outcome is a lot different
because you're not gonna change for
people joining behaviour change has to
do with the whole whole person the
environment at vocal New York we also
meet Alan who tried k2 himself and says
he's one of many when I first tried it I
didn't like it because I knew what he
was doing to me I try I cut out twice on
the floor because of it and when I found
out we was there and was doing all that
to me I had to talk I saw my side
I got a stop I can do this do you think
that there's a safe way to do k2 or is
the drug itself just too dangerous that
was too dangerous back in Queens Cathy
and her team get another call from the
same psychiatric hospital there's
another suspected k2 case
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what's up guys how's it going in this
community the majority the k2 patients
are unfortunately coming from a
psychiatric patients I know a lot of
people trying to help them to understand
that what they're doing is dangerous for
them some of them are getting really
hurt from it I've never seen so many
people lose one drug a drug which is
also attracting new users u.s. drug
officials warn increasing numbers of
high-school students admit to using k2
as for those already using it it's so
cheap and so easy to buy they keep on
coming back for more
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