Sheriff warns of synthetic drug dangers

St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz shared the dangers of synthetic drugs with Eunice Rotary Club members on Wednesday.
“We have an employee whose 18-year-old son is hooked on this stuff,” Guidroz said. “His son has convulsions and foams at the mouth. The father won’t even let him get a job because that’s what he would spend the money on.”
“Fake weed is a real danger.”
In Louisiana, synthetic marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 Controlled Dangerous Substance, and by law, a person caught manufacturing, in possession of or distributing a Schedule I faces a maximum penalty of 50 years hard labor and $50,000. The penalties for marijuana and synthetic marijuana are slightly lower at 30 years and $50,000.
“According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, those foolish enough to use this drug have been subject to symptoms like rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation, confusion, hallucinations, permanent brain damage and even death,” Guidroz said. “Hospitals nationwide are seeing drastic increases in E.R. admissions with symptoms like these.”
“Our kids in St. Landry Parish are on this. It’s a big problem for us.”
Even just one use of a synthetic drug can have long-term effects, Guidroz said.
“After the high, if the user makes it through the horrors and never touches the drug again, it may be too late,” he said. “Hundreds, possibly thousands of suicides have been linked to synthetic drug use due to long lasting effects from only brief ‘experimentation’ with the synthetic drugs identified in packaging as ‘incense’ or ‘bath-salts.’”
Guidroz cited a study by Dr. Louis DeFelice, a neuroscientist who has studied the dangers of synthetic cocaine, called “bath-salts” and the long-lasting, possibly permanent effects on the brain.
“(He) calls the drug ‘an insidious combination’ of two primary active ingredients,” Guidroz said. “In tests, his lab has shown that brain cells, once exposed to bath salts, ‘can’t go back to baseline. In fact, as long as the cell stays alive, it ‘never returns to its original state.’”
The sheriff said 96 percent of the parish’s crime is drug-related, and his department’s Narcotics Division is working tirelessly against the synthetic drug problem in the parish.
“We have a huge area to cover,” he said. “The government doesn’t do enough to help us fight the drug war.”
“We work to pursue these individuals (manufacturers, those in possession of, or distributing synthetic drugs) with multiple agencies and arrest them. We are fighting very hard to stop this.”
Guidroz urged those at the meeting to call in to Crime Stoppers if they see any illegal activity.
“I will not allow this horrible synthetic drug to take hold in our parish like it has in other areas of the state and country,” he said. “If you are using synthetic drugs I advise you to stop, seek medical help, and contact our Narcotics Division with any data you may have regarding distribution or manufacture. If you are dealing or cooking synthetic drugs in this parish, I advise you to get on bended knee and seek your help there, because when we catch you, and we will, you’ll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
To contact Claudette Olivier, email claudette.olivier@eunicetoday.com.