The state health department has launched a wide probe into a recent spate of illnesses from synthetic-marijuana products, including whether three recent deaths are connected.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said it is teaming with local health agencies, hospitals and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the investigation, after reports of about 75 recent illnesses.
“Several individuals were in intensive care, and three deaths are being investigated as possibly associated,” said Dr. Tista Ghosh, interim chief medical officer for the state.
The CDC is sending four people to help with the epidemiological probe, which will look at medical charts of patients reporting the symptoms and study toxicology results.
The announcement comes after metro Denver emergency rooms have seen a surge of new cases they attribute to the material, which often comes in colorful packets — similar in size to those containing, say, hot cocoa — with names such as Spice or Black Mamba. The illegal drugs are usually pieces of dried herb sprayed with synthetic chemicals that can mimic the effects of marijuana without leaving a THC trace in urine samples.
Parents who brought their ailing 26-year-old son to Denver Health Medical Center’s emergency room Friday said their son had bought a packet marked Strawberry at a small grocery store near West Evans Avenue and South Federal Boulevard.
Samuel Alvarado Jr. was hallucinating about walking a dog and having arguments with invisible people, then had trouble standing, said his father, Samuel Alvarado. The family believes he had not tried drugs before.
He refused an ambulance trip in a paranoid reaction, his father said. Paranoia is a common symptom with the synthetics, medical experts said.
Alvarado was recovering in an inpatient room Friday afternoon, but his father said the episode was terrifying.
“I really thought he was going to die on us,” Samuel Alvarado said. “He was just crazy.”
An update from University of Colorado Hospital on Friday said the large emergency room had five cases in the past two days, for a total of about 50 in the past two weeks.
Denver Health, Medical Center of Aurora and other metro emergency rooms have reported similar surges of patients connected to the drugs.
The packets of drugs, illegal under federal and state law, don’t disclose their chemicals, and health officials say buyers have no idea what toxic mix they might get. Patients arrive at the emergency room often after an aggressive or hazardous action, such as running into traffic or jumping from heights, and they can be violent with responders and hospital staff.
Hospital officials say they see periodic surges in cases related to the drugs, which are usually smoked, but Denver had been quiet for most of the past year until now.
“Don’t wait for the results of this investigation. If you have synthetic marijuana, stop using it and destroy it,” Ghosh said.
Other states have analyzed the chemical mix in the street drugs, but they often found a variety of additives, Ghosh said. Analyzing one batch may not tell much about what’s in other brand names or what was sold at a different time.
The synthetic-marijuana investigation is different from other recent safety probes led by the state health department. In the case of the 2011 outbreak of cantaloupe listeria, for example, incidents of the food-borne illness were required to be reported by doctor offices and labs to state officials, who then fanned out across Colorado looking for a source.
Synthetic-drug reactions are not an officially reportable illness. This time, the state is reaching out first in reaction to a possible public health threat, said an agency spokesman.
Michael Booth: 303-954-1686, mbooth@ denverpost.com or twitter.com/mboothdp
What is synthetic marijuana?
Also referred to as synthetic cannabinoids, so-called synthetic marijuana is illegal to possess, use or sell in Colorado. It often comes in colorful packets under names such as Spice or Black Mamba. The drug usually consists of pieces of dried herb sprayed with synthetic chemicals that can mimic the effects of marijuana without leaving a THC trace in urine samples.
