ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania — A dramatic increase in hospitalizations tied to synthetic marijuana is hitting eastern Pennsylvania, officials said.
The Morning Call reported (http://bit.ly/1HmHdq5) that Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown and several other hospitals in the Lehigh Valley have been flooded with at least a dozen cases since Saturday.
The drug, known as “fake weed,” is a plant mixture sprayed with a chemical and is marketed as a legal alternative to marijuana. However, authorities warn that there is no control over the chemicals used, and a number of states and the federal government have sought to outlaw the use of those chemicals.
It was not clear what caused the sudden spike in hospitalizations. But Dr. Ryan McClintock at St. Luke’s University Hospital told the newspaper that it could have been a change in the drug’s formulation or a sudden increase in the number of people using it.