Four more people overdosed on synthetic drugs Tuesday at the District of Columbia’s largest homeless shelter, just one day after the city’s mayor announced a new effort to eradicate sales of the drugs.
Just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, emergency personnel were called to the Community for Creative Nonviolence where the four people were found in or near the shelter, according to The Washington Post. The condition of the patients wasn’t known.
The District of Columbia has seen a huge spike in use and misuse of the drugs in the past few weeks, with eleven coming in just a single day last week.
The synthetic drugs, with strange names like K2, Scooby Snax, Bizzaro and Spice, are intended to replicate the effects of marijuana, but they are actually dangerous hallucinogens made up of unknown chemicals that can lead to death.
On Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a new law enforcement initiative to target stores that sell the illegal synthetic drugs in the city.
She said she will introduce legislation later this week that will allow the city’s police chief to shut down businesses caught selling the drugs for four days and fine them $10,000.
The second time a business is caught selling synthetic drugs, it will be shut down for 30 days, fined $20,000 and could possibly have its business license revoked, under the proposed law.
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