Spice is a synthetic cannabinoid which means it’s a drug that’s been created in a laboratory, originally designed to mimic the effects of cannabis. When it comes to what’s in Spice, it’s a wide variety of herbal mixtures that aim to produce effects like those that marijuana produces.
Spice is marketed as a safe, legal alternative to marijuana; however, it can be much more harmful and unpredictable. This is partly because Spice is more frequently powdered by chemicals, dissolved, or sprayed onto paper, often including psychoactive chemicals.
With more people purchasing this substance online, its origins and chemical amounts are increasingly inaccurate, making it extremely dangerous for the consumer. It’s impossible to know what the strength of the product is or what all the ingredients are, resulting in a very risky drug.
Known by many different street names including Bliss, Blaze, Black Mamba, Bombay Blue, Fake Weed, Legal Weed, Genie, Red X, Scooby, Skunk, K2, Snax, Spice is typically consumed by smoking as a ‘joint’, in a pipe, e-cigarette, or sometimes drank in tea.
Often labelled as ‘not for human consumption’, Sprice products frequently claim that they contain ‘natural’ psychoactive material taken from a variety of plants. However, chemical analyses show that its most active ingredient is synthetic.
How Does Spice Affect the Brain?
There are risks with taking any type of drug, even if it’s prescribed or classified as legal. As we mentioned, the risk of taking Spice is even higher as you’re unlikely to ever know its true origins or what’s included.
Whilst Spice produces similar effects to marijuana, such as relaxation, altered perception, and elevated mood, it’s been reported that Spice has an even stronger impact on the brain and can cause psychotic effects like hallucinations, extreme anxiety, and paranoia.
Consuming Spice can also result in the following:
- Panic attacks
- Increase in heart rate and blood pressure
- Inability to move
- Dizziness
- Chest pain
- Breathing difficulties
- Heart palpitations
- Seizures
- Vomiting or diarrhoea
- Acute kidney injury
- Convulsions
- Organ damage
- In extreme cases, death
The full impact Spice can have on your mental and physical health is still being determined. As a relatively new substance, many studies and reports are still taking place to identify its full impact, making it extremely dangerous.
Dangers of Taking Spice
Many unpredictable side effects can occur from consuming Spice, particularly when it’s consumed alongside alcohol or other drugs; this significantly increases the risks of unwanted and potentially life-threatening effects. In addition to the physical and mental health problems that arise when taking Spice, you’ll also likely experience the following withdrawal symptoms if you’ve been consuming Spice over a prolonged period.
These include anxiety, low mood, cravings, restlessness, irritability, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. Most people consume Spice by smoking which, like any inhalation substance, will irritate your lungs’ delicate tissue.
It’s recommended not to smoke any substance that can cause damage, but if you do, avoid holding the smoke in your lungs or breathing too deeply when inhaling. Also, avoid using water pipes or bongs; these make you inhale more deeply, increasing your risk of lung damage.
As with many other drugs, Spice can dramatically increase your risk of mental health problems, making your feelings of anxiety or paranoia even worse. Dual diagnosis is commonly seen when someone suffers from an addiction and mental health problems.
This is becoming increasingly popular as more people are now aware of dual diagnosis, but also because more people suffering from mental health problems are turning to alcohol or drugs to cope with their psychological pain. Likewise, excessively consuming drugs like Spice are much more prone to cause mental health problems because of the toxins entering their bodies.
Get Treatment
Spice can be highly addictive, particularly as it’s so easily accessible. Any dependency or addiction to alcohol or drugs needs to be dealt with immediately. If left untreated, it will only worsen, making it harder to achieve long-term recovery.
Here at Asana Lodge, our rehab clinics house highly experienced teams of medical experts who are all motivated and dedicated to helping you overcome your substance abuse. With the latest facilities and evidence-based therapies, we’ve tried and tested the most effective treatment plans to help you overcome addiction in a safe and controlled way.
Beginning with medical drug detox, we will work together to gradually reduce your Spice intake, managing any uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that arise along the way. Undertaking a medical detox under the supervision of a professional team is crucial to achieving success and staying safe throughout your detox.
Withdrawal symptoms will affect everyone differently, but they’re so common we can expect mild nausea, headaches, dizziness, seizures, insomnia, or even delirium tremens (the DT’s).
Once you’ve successfully completed your medical detox and your physical connection to Spice is broken, our addiction specialists will work with you to break your psychological connection to the substance. This can be achieved by implementing a personalised therapy programme tailored to benefit the nature and severity of your addiction in the most effective way.
This will typically include individual, family, or group counselling, psychotherapy, relapse prevention, stress management, and cognitive behavioural therapy (also known as CBT).
Throughout your treatment programme, we also want to ensure that your general well-being is taken care of. We do this by removing distractions to ensure your sole focus is on your long-term recovery. We also offer well-being therapies such as mindfulness, yoga, music, art, fitness, low-level laser, and relaxation and sleep management.
Call today on 01908 498 421 for more information on how we can help.
