Los Angeles police officers are passing out flyers informing drug users on Skid Row about the dangers of the synthetic drug Spice.
The drug is believed to be linked to an incident Monday, when more than 20 people became ill, and one on Friday, when nearly 50 people were sickened, according to Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Station.
Emergency crews examined 22 people Monday, initially responding to the 400 block of East Fifth Street after several people complained of feeling ill, police said. At least 14 of them were transported to the hospital for treatment.
On Friday, nearly 50 people were evaluated after reporting feeling ill with drug-induced symptoms.
Investigators believe the newest version of the drug contains chemicals that make it more addictive, according to a Central Station watch commander, Sgt. F. Carrillo.
The spike in the use of spice in that area also can be attributed to the drug’s low cost and availability, Carrillo said.
In April, about 10 people, including a police bicycle officer, were sickened within a 24-hour span in the area of San Pedro and Fifth streets — not far from the latest two incidents — by an unknown substance or intoxicant. The bicycle officer was not a drug user but reportedly was sickened by fumes, likely some kind of aerosol spray mixture of the drug, police said.
At the time, officers assigned to the area spread the word that it appeared a drug being circulated was making people sick, but authorities didn’t figure out what caused the illnesses and no one was arrested.
