“They always try and get this store, and many times we’ve told them we don’t want it,” O’Donald said. “It’s like middle man drug pushing.”

A report released last month by Pediatrics, a scholarly journal on youth medicine, claims more young adults are suffering bad reactions from the substances, often named “K2” or “spice.”

The report details symptoms of dizziness and unresponsiveness while under the influence, many cases requiring medical care. It is one of the most detailed studies of a drug whose long-term effects still remain a mystery to health experts.

Many gas stations and accessory shops in East Lansing have kept comparable products on the shelves since the chemical first started getting popular about two years ago.

MSU health experts said students here have experienced similar adverse reactions, even some cases of paranoid breakdowns that can last up to an entire day.

“We’ve actually seen students experience psychotic effects with K2 use,” said Rebecca Allen, an alcohol, tobacco and other drugs health educator at Olin Health Center.

Allen started researching the substance about two years ago, when several of these cases occurred in the Olin clinic.

“It’s a weird feeling, sort of high,” he said. “People who buy this stuff get into a pattern.”

Experts said earlier strains contained the chemical JWH-018, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana.

After the ingredient was banned by the Drug Enforcement Administration last year, hundreds of different ingredients and blends have emerged, Allen said.

The strains are not regulated as either food or drugs — instead they are sold with a label that says they are not for human consumption — making it impossible to tell what the true ingredients are.

“The chemicals keep changing to try and skirt the legal ramifications, and as a result we just don’t have a sense of what’s really in them,” Allen said. “You could literally be smoking just about anything.”

Silver Streak & Krazy Katz, 317 E. Grand River Ave., sells about 12 different brands, all of which are labeled as not for human consumption.

Galena Katz, the store’s owner, said the legal alternative isn’t necessarily harmful. She said it helps to stop users from turning to other illegal street drugs, and could be completely harmless.
“I’m not too much into the politics of it,” she said. “You can doctor your studies up however you want to.”

Since it is legal, police do not have detailed documentation, as records such as arrests do not exist.

“If it’s not illegal, we would not make an arrest,” MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.

Unlike marijuana, O’Donald said he’s seen signs of semidependency and negative effects for friends and peers who use the legal, unmonitored substitute.

“It’s just a weird, kind of addictive substance,”
he said.