https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/police-emt-resources-are-being-drained-in-lancaster-columbia-by/article_91d31d5c-47f4-11e8-9639-bb932ec444ff.html

Police, EMT resources are being drained in Lancaster, Columbia by a rise in synthetic drug use

TOM KNAPP | Staff Writer | May 2, 2018

A recent surge in the number of emergency calls for people who use a synthetic drug known as K2 is overwhelming police and medical responders in Lancaster.

"It's a huge problem, in that there's a very small number of people who are repeatedly doing this," Lancaster city police Lt. Bill Hickey said. "We're dealing with some of the same people over and over again."

Calls for people on K2 -- also called spice or synthetic cannabinoids -- sometimes eclipse the number of opioid overdoses in the city, Hickey said.

That number has spiked in recent weeks, he said -- similar to a 10-day period last July, when Lancaster EMS treated more than 160 patients for the drug. Police also noted a surge in K2 use in the summer of 2015.

It's hard to come up with hard numbers, Hickey said.

The number of K2 calls is "difficult to track," he said, because an incident could be dispatched as an overdose, a check on a person's welfare, public drunkenness, a medical emergency or a person down.

But the frequency of calls can delay police and EMTs from responding to other, potentially more serious emergencies, he said.

"People who overdose on heroin are having trouble -- they're blue in the face, they're dying. With K2, they're basically catatonic," he said. "It's not an overdose, it's the typical reaction to ingesting that drug.

"It's not like heroin, where if they don't get Narcan they're going to die."

Relatively inexpensive

Symptoms of a K2 user often are serious enough that "we can't safely hold them at the police station," Hickey said. "They have to go to the hospital for observation.

"Then they walk out of the hospital and, in some cases, they're back on it a couple of hours later."

A relatively inexpensive drug, K2 is a big problem among Lancaster's homeless population, he said.

"We'll find them sitting in Binns Park, or on Lennox Lane by the courthouse," he said. "At the McDonald's on Water Street, in Steinman Park, or in the patio area by the visitors' center."

People call 911 "because they appear unconscious, or someone sees them stumbling down the street," he said.

Police treat all calls as emergencies, Hickey said, because responders don't know until they get there if it's an overdose or other medical crisis.

Unfortunately, Hickey said, there's not much police can do.

"If we find them in possession of the drug, it's a misdemeanor," he said. "It's a low-level offense for possession of a controlled substance."

If the drug isn't on them, the most police can do is cite them for public drunkenness, a summary offense.

K2 doesn't show up in standard drug tests, Hickey said.

Columbia, too

The problem has also shown up in Columbia.

"The use of synthetic cannabinoids/K2 in Columbia has been prevalent for years," borough police Detective Matthew D. Leddy said in an email. "Our patrol officers are exposed to users of synthetic cannabinoids on a regular basis."

Its use has led to charges in Columbia from public intoxication to domestic assault, Leddy said.

"We've seen everything from unconsciousness to extremely violent behavior," he said.

Some K2 users hallucinate, are unable to communicate, become violent to others or try to hurt themselves, he added.

"Users of synthetic cannabinoids are extremely unpredictable while they are under the influence," Leddy said. "Further, synthetic cannabinoids are often used in concert with other substances. This definitely increases the unpredictability factor."

Even Lancaster County Prison isn't immune.

Although she didn't say how many incidents have involved synthetic cannabinoids at the prison, Warden Cheryl Steberger said synthetic drug use is on the rise.

"The period of time needed to detox is extended and is accompanied by altered mental status, which may include confusion, aggressive and/or psychotic behavior," she said in an email.

"This extended detox puts the inmate at greater physical risk of self-harm or other complication related to their drug use. The aggressive nature exhibited through detox also puts prison staff at great risk of physical harm."

Fewer problems in the suburbs

Elsewhere in Lancaster County, K2 problems are scarce.

"We've had it, but it's not a major issue for us," Manheim Township police Sgt. Michael T. Piacentino said.

"I can't recall one from this year," he said. On the other hand, he said, "heroin calls are on almost a daily basis."

"We have not had any recent K2 incidents that I can recall," said East Lampeter Township police Lt. James D. Shank. "There were only a handful in recent years."

Akron police Chief Tom Zell, Manheim Borough police Chief Joseph C. Stauffer and Manor Township police Chief Todd A. Graeff also said K2 hasn't been an issue lately. Millersville University spokeswoman Janet Kacskos said campus police haven't gotten calls for K2 in the last year.

In Ephrata, Chief William L. Harvey said police there saw "a significant amount" of K2 a few years ago, but "it's lost its appeal here locally."