Wichita police: Synthetic marijuana K2 ‘on our radar’

A Wichita police official said Thursday that the synthetic form of marijuana known as K2 is “on our radar now” following a surge in hospital cases linked to the drug.

“It’s a concern of ours any time we see a spike like this,” Capt. Doug Nolte said.

Between Sunday and Wednesday, Wesley Medical Center treated 15 patients requiring emergency care after they smoked K2. Via Christi Regional Medical Center has also treated K2 patients in the same time period, but did not provide a number.

“We’re working with them,” Nolte said of the hospitals. “We want to make sure we’re on the same page … and hopefully stemming the tide of what we’re seeing.”

Hospitals are not required to notify authorities when treating a patient who has smoked K2, so “our numbers don’t match,” Nolte said.

The 15 patients at Wesley ranged from 17 to 22 years old, though a hospital official said there have been patients as young as 13 in the past.

K2 patients are often combative and need to be restrained or injected with sedatives, the hospital official said. Many patients can’t remember taking the drugs and sometimes can’t even remember their own names.

Police officials in the past have said people who take K2 can go into convulsions and even stop breathing.

Investigators will be talking to the patients to see whether any connections or patterns emerge, Nolte said.

“We’ve got to work through that and figure out where it’s coming from,” he said.

Synthetic marijuana is typically sold as herbal products on the Internet under a variety of names, including synthetic marijuana, “spice,” K2, “black mamba” and “crazy clown.” Because the chemicals used to make it vary greatly, users never know what they are getting.

Nolte said investigators will be trying to figure out whether the K2 responsible for this week’s surge in hospital cases was brought in from elsewhere or produced locally.

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Wichita police: Synthetic marijuana K2 ‘on our radar’."