Doctors and prosecutors in the Lehigh Valley don’t know why there has been a sudden uptick of deadly K2 overdoses where patients need to be strapped down to be treated.
In less than a week, more than 50 people in the Allentown and Bethlehem areas required treatment at area hospitals after showing varying levels of intoxication to K2 – a type of synthetic marijuana, said the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office.
“These substances are extremely dangerous,” DA James Martin said. “The green leafy matter in these packets may appear to be innocuous. However, it has been sprayed with chemical compounds that are hazardous.
“There is no way for a user to know exactly what chemical compound has been sprayed on the synthetic marijuana.”
Doctors at Lehigh Valley Health Network hospitals Sacred Heart and Lehigh Valley have treated fever, delirium, agitation and a breakdown of muscle fibers that can be caused by the drug.
"People are extremely agitated, they are delirious," said Dr. Robert Thomso, the director of emergency medicine at Sacred Heart.
Patients have ranged from 13 to 60 years old and many required intubation. The Lehigh County Coroner’s Officer also suspected toxicology results would show eight recent deaths from the drug.
Thomso said the patients on the drug needed to be restrained for their own safety and that often doctors don’t even know what drug the patient took until the patient wakes up after treatment.
Overdoses were also reported in Dauphin, Lancaster, Luzerne and Northampton counties, said the DA.
It wasn’t clear if there was a bad batch of the drug or just an uptick in usage.
Authorities hoped that people will think twice before taking the drug that often comes in a brightly-colored package.
“People think this is a safe substance and underestimate how dangerous it is,” Martin said.
