My first-ever firearms instructor was a Rhode Island State Police Sergeant. Joining us in the classroom: a woman buying a gun for self-defense. The Statie zeroed in on her like a Scientologist pimping a personality audit to a college freshman. “The bad guy’s gonna be all hopped-up on angel dust,” the LEO advised the timid newbie from point-blank range. “Trust me. I been there. He’s out-of-his-head crazy. He don’t feel nothin‘. You better shoot him when you have the chance.” Somehow, the angel dust epidemic didn’t unleash the expected killer zombie apocalypse. Flash forward forty years and a new drug is raising a similar paranoia alarm . . .
A sharp rise in visits to emergency rooms and calls to poison control centers nationwide has some health officials fearing that more potent and dangerous variations of a popular drug known as spice have reached the nation’s streets, resulting in several deaths.
In the first three weeks of April, state poison control centers received about 1,000 reports of adverse reactions to spice — the street name for a family of synthetic substances that mimic the effects of marijuana — more than doubling the total from January through March, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers . . .
Mr. Ryan said his Louisiana call center had fielded fewer calls in the past several years partly because emergency-room doctors had begun to recognize the effects of certain variations of spice and knew how to handle those cases themselves, leaving most of the calls from worried individuals. The tenor of recent calls has been different, he said.
“It’s been more than 90 percent hospitals this year,” Mr. Ryan said. “It’s not, ‘Hey, I smoked this thing and I don’t feel well.’ It’s, ‘This guy’s trying to tear up the E.R. and we have him locked down in restraints. We don’t know what he’s taken. What do we do?’”
Armed self-defenders take note: the internets are not [yet] abuzz with stories of spice-laden space cadets spicing-up their lives by slicing and dicing innocent folks going about their business.
But it’s true that highly drugged individuals – including criminals who’ve been drinking – may fail to recognize the fact that lead projectile perforation is a clear sign that they should cease their attack. As always, shoot to stop the threat. Keep shooting until the threat’s stopped or, even better, you’ve removed yourself from danger.
[h/t mister3d]