JACKSON, Miss.–Spice overdoses in Mississippi are the highest in the country by far. There have been over 1,200 overdoses reported to medical authorities in the state in April and May alone. Nationally there have been about 3,500 overdoses reported so far this year.
“These are calls to the Poison Control Center,” said Dr. Robert Cox, who is chief medical officer at the Center. “About 20 percent of those had to be admitted to the hospital. About 9 percent ended up in the intensive care unit,” he said during an interview on the Gallo Radio Show.
THE INTERVIEW
Cox said the chemicals that people use to manufacture Spice keep changing.
“The general thought is that the supply is coming from China. They’re shipping it into this country labeled as something else. It might be in a container that says something simple like ‘acetone’, that you would use as a paint cleaner. But it doesn’t have acetone in it.”
HE said the people who are buying Spice do not know what is in it. It is being mixed with incense or potpourri to make it more aesthetically pleasing.
“The bust that we had here in Jackson, they were mixing it up in a cement mixer. There are not chemists.”
He said you should know what you are putting into your body.
“They should know how dangerous this has been.”
