Psychedelic Drug 'N-Bomb' (NBOMe) In New Zealand
April 20, 2015 | Drug Crime
Police and medical authorities are warning about a new LSD-like drug that can turn users so violent it takes four or five people to subdue them.
Police had to restrain patients tripping on a drug called "N-bomb" so that paramedics could get them to hospital on four separate occasions over the past three weeks, Wellington Hospital emergency medicine specialist Paul Quigley said.
Four to five hospital staff were required to pin down the one who got "really out of control".
They yelled, kicked and spat, but so far hospital staff had avoided injury, he said.
"It's something we are always aware of. It's a very dangerous time sedating these patients, it's a real concern."
The street name "N-bomb" is an umbrella term for a family of relatively new and unapproved psychoactive substances that cannot be sold or imported legally. They are usually sold on blotter paper, in the same way as LSD is.
Massey University's most recent report analysing New Zealand's drug scene surveying frequent users noted the drug was commonly being sold as LSD, but was many times more potent and carried an increased overdose risk.
The patients, suffering from hallucinations and racing heartbeats, required eight to 12 hours' sedation to recover from their trips, Quigley said.
When they awoke, they had "no recall" of their behaviour.
He suspected they bought the N-bomb unknowingly.
"People on LSD are generally compliant – like if you want them to sit down, you just push them on to a chair and they just sit down and hallucinate. These guys on N-bomb were just plain nuts."
Last March, a man landed in intensive care with kidney and cardiac complications, and three others required hospital treatment, after taking N-bomb at a party in Christchurch.
Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch, head of Wellington's drug and organised crime squad, said: "We know it's the most common blotter tab out there. People aren't taking acid, they're taking N-bomb."
It is among a tide of emerging designer drugs hitting New Zealand's streets reports suggest have been sourced from the dark web - internet sites where users can buy and sell drugs anonymously online like the Silk Road.
Last year police busted a university student in Wellington ordering hundreds of "N-Bomb" tabs mailed to him via such a site.
When sold as acid, N-bomb can fetch about $40 a tab. However, variations reportedly sell for as little as $2 a tab in Australia.
It is often sold pressed into a "paper" form, encased in absorbent material such as blotter tabs, and in the form of a sheet, sometimes decorated with pictures. It can also be sold as capsules, tablets, or as bags of powder.
The term N-bomb covers a range of NBOMe compounds, also known as "synthetic LSD", and used as hallucinogens. The label can refer to any of several types of phenethylaminederivatives, such as 25I-NBOMe.
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What is N-Bomb?
N-Bombs (members of the NBOMe 'family' of drugs) are powerful hallucinogens, similar to LSD,which means it changes the way you see objects and reality. You might see or hear things which aren’t there (known as hallucinations). The experience of taking hallucinogens is often referred to as a ‘trip’. Trips can be good or bad, but until you take it you don’t know how it will affect you – and once you’re on a ‘trip’ you can't stop it.
The main effects and risks of taking hallucinogens, like N-Bomb, are:
- Time and movement can appear to speed up and slow down.
- Colour, sound and objects can get distorted and you can experience double vision.
- These distortions of your senses can be quite unpredictable, sometimes pleasant, but sometimes very frightening (these are called 'bad trips').
N-Bomb's are also related to the 2C ‘family’ of compounds.
- Article originally on stuff.co.nz.
Article source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/67867839/wellington-hospital-alarmed-by-spate-of-patients-gone-nuts-on-fake-acid
