Lava Red can be addictive

Lava Red can addict and endanger health: drug experts, police and psychologists warn: The health consequences of the new fashion drug „Lava Red“ are still hard to estimate today. There are indications that the herbal drug has a high potential for dependence. Some adolescents were hospitalized after consuming the drug.

12/12/2010

In so-called „Head shops“ is currently a herbal mixture called „Lava red“ offered. The herbal mixture is according to the manufacturer allegedly meant to „Home fragrance mix“ or to „meditate „to be used. But young people in particular do not use Lava Red to create a pleasant room fragrance. Rather, the mixture is used to inhale to produce a intoxication. Many young people assume that smoking the mixture is completely harmless. But according to the head of the addiction clinic „Teen Spirit Island“ In the children's hospital on the Bult in Hannover, Prof. Christoph Möller, the use of the previously legal drug is even life threatening. „It is very likely that the artificial cannabis drug is addictive. He intervenes in the brain metabolism and mental development“, explained psychiatrist Möller. Again and again, adolescents have to be admitted to a hospital because they suffered from severe circulatory disorders and other complaints by inhaling the mixture.

Meanwhile, the police authorities are on the „drug“ caught on. Currently, the State Criminal Investigation Office in Hannover is investigating various providers of Lava Red. A few days ago, two adolescents aged 15 and 16 years had to be admitted to massive circulatory problems after they had „LavaRed“ have smoked. In Wolfsburg, the cannabis-like mixture has already been sold to a 12-year-old. Here, too, already determined the police against the dealer.

„Lava Red“ consists of dried plant substances that are sprayed with an artificially produced cannabinoid. Lava Red is in contrast to the already forbidden blend „Spice“ Although not yet banned, but currently has the „legal“ Successor drug developed. „It is a nationwide phenomenon that more and more herbal mixtures are offered, causing a rush“ can, explains Frank Federau of the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office. All of these blends contain synthetically made cannabinoids that can be harmful to the body's health. But investigators are hardly coming to take all the alleged herbal mixtures from the market. Because, is „such a building block is discovered and banned, the manufacturer changes a building block in the chemical composition and offers the substance under a different name.“ explains the official.

Long-term effects of Lava Red barely studied
The long-term effects of Lava Red have hardly been studied so far. The effects of herbal mixture are still unexplored and therefore highly questionable. Each package will be examined individually by the State Office of Criminal Investigation in the laboratory to analyze the actual ingredients. „We assume that the manufacturers consciously bypass the narcotic law“, because it will, according to statements of the state criminal investigation „intentionally misrepresented use. The price recommendation should make a start. Nobody pays 10 euros per gram to buy a bath or smoked product. Therefore, the state criminal police opinion. In several Internet forums is animated to sell the mixture and reported about intoxication. Only then do the potential buyers come up with the idea to use the product for inhalation and intoxication. The representations in the forums are, however, almost without exception trivialized and euphemistically written. Negative experiences or health restrictions can be read almost anywhere in the relevant portals.

The consequences of consumption are clearly underestimated by the young people in particular. Above all, there is a high risk of overdose. In the child and adolescent psychiatry of the children's hospital „On the bult“ Lava Red is already known. Often, young consumers had to be admitted with sometimes considerable complaints. In addition to nausea, vomiting and severe circulatory disorders through to unconsciousness, the drug can also trigger life-threatening symptoms such as cardiac arrhythmia, changes in perception and panic attacks. In addition, there is a high search potential for young people who are still in the development phase. According to the psychiatrist Möller, synthetic cannabinoids massively interfere with the metabolism of the brain and can also disturb the psychological development.

Parents and doctors now ask why the substance is not banned so far. This is because the substances must first be clearly identified. Only then can the products be classified as harmful and included in the Narcotics Act. If a mixture was banned, the manufacturers change the chemical formula and set up a new variant with a new name.

Health consequences of Lava Red
Smoking by „Lava red“ This may cause shortness of breath, cramps, blurred vision, nausea, sweating, dangerous cardiac arrhythmias and unconsciousness, according to the current warning from the Poison Information Center. Even longtime stoners were very astonished in corresponding online forums about the effect. These remind partly less of marijuana but rather of hard chemical substances, so the statement of some users. Particularly dangerous for young people, because their metabolism is usually even more potent and they are less fortified, so their effect can have far-reaching consequences on the young person's psyche. The association with marijuana has a fatal effect. While the effect of already very strong cannabis is still somewhat controllable today, the dangerous mixture of chemical substances with the various herbs can have extreme health consequences, according to the experts.

First aid measures
If sufferers or relatives feel the negative consequences, a doctor should be contacted immediately. As a first aid measure until the doctor arrives, plenty of water should be given if the person concerned is still conscious. If the person is unconscious, a stable lateral position should be carried out until the rescuers arrive. To prevent panic attacks, relatives should be reassuring to the patient. (Sb)

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