NEWS

New narcotic spreading across Ohio

Spenser Hickey
Reporter

MARION – Appearing around the country over the last three years, alpha-PVP, known as flakka or gravel, has induced reactions of paranoia and violence in those who use it.

It’s produced synthetically, similar to MDMA, but is stronger, longer lasting and less expensive than crack cocaine and methamphetamine, and it can be ordered online from laboratories in China.

“This has probably been as sudden and as devastating as the arrival of crack cocaine in the summer of 1986,” said Jim Hall, who saw the rise of crack cocaine in his first year as a researcher in drug abuse patterns. Hall now works at Florida’s Nova Southeastern University, and has seen Alpha-PVP hit his part of the state severely.

The drug has already been reported in most Ohio counties.

“It is certainly a drug that’s making its way around the country,” said Matt Barden, a spokesman with the Drug Enforcement Agency’s national headquarters.

The drug first began to appear in 2011, though DEA records of substances sent to government laboratories show it was only identified in more than 0.1 percent of all drug reports in one state, Nebraska.

By the end of 2012, though, it was showing up in 28 states, with a total of 2,642 identified reports. Utah and Maine had the highest number of reports, with between 1 and 5.4 percent of all drug reports. New Hampshire, Ohio and Iowa came next, with 0.7 to 0.9 percent of all drug reports. Regionally, the Midwest had 1,518 cases, more than all other regions combined.

In 2013, the national number dropped to 2,240 identified reports. From January 1, 2014, to June 30, 2014, though, there were 2,244 reports of Alpha-PVP. More recent national data is not currently available.

Ross County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mike Preston said the department has no reports of the drug being in Ross County that he was aware of, although he said he has heard reports of it being in neighboring Vinton County.

Hall described Alpha-PVP as a very powerful stimulant that creates a sought-after euphoric feeling, but it comes with adverse effects such as agitation, aggressiveness, severe paranoia and disrupted thought processes.

When taken in too strong of a dose, the drug can make a user feel like their skin is on fire and make them think people or even imaginary wild animals are trying to kill them. The stimulant can also give them heightened adrenaline, requiring several police officers to restrain them.

“If they’re lucky enough to survive, another consequence could be severe kidney failure from the hyperthermia, and that could result in having to be on dialysis for the rest of their life,” Hall said.

Kentucky

In Kentucky, newer synthetic drugs such as Alpha-PVP still carry a class-B misdemeanor offense regardless of the amount, which frustrates Lewis County Sheriff Johnny Blevins. Lewis County sits just south of the Ohio River from Adams and Scioto counties.

“Someone could drive a tractor-trailer load of it here in front of the courthouse and park it and it’s a misdemeanor,” he said.

Blevins and his deputies first began to notice the drug in their area between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, when they began to receive calls about “bizarre behavior” particularly signs of paranoia.

“We would arrive on the scene and they were still convinced somebody was trying to kill them,” Blevins said.

Most of those addicted to Alpha-PVP were previous users of cocaine or methamphetamine, according to Blevins, but he said “it’s safe to say” that people have also shifted from heroin as well.

“If it’s not there (in your area), it will be,” Blevins said. He recommended law enforcement anywhere meet with legislators to strengthen laws prohibiting Alpha-PVP, and said that once they encounter users, they’ll quickly recognize their behavior because it’s so bizarre.

“It’s the worst drug I’ve seen in 18 years of law enforcement,” he said.

Ohio

Jill Del Greco, spokeswoman with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said there had been some cases of Alpha-PVP being reported in 2012, though they’d dropped somewhat after the narcotic was made a Schedule I controlled substance in the state in December 2012. Alpha-PVP wasn’t made a Schedule I substance nationally until early 2014.

By 2012, however, the drug was identified in 68 Ohio counties, with nine showing amounts between 4 and 23.3 percent of total drug reports as Alpha-PVP.

Data on 2013 and 2014 Alpha-PVP amounts in Ohio were not available through the DEA’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System.

“I don’t think it’s showed up in high amounts at all,” said Jan Scaglione, a clinical toxicologist with the Poison Information Center in Cincinnati.

While the 2012 data showed relatively lower amounts of Alpha-PVP in southern Ohio, it has been present more recently. On July 22, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office made four arrests in connection with alleged Alpha-PVP trafficking as part of a year-long investigation.

They seized 40 grams of Alpha-PVP, worth approximately $10,000, along with 40 firearms, digital scales, packing materials and $20,000 in cash, according to the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Virginia.

“It’s probably already in our communities in low levels and we just have people that have not ended up needing healthcare for that because that’s how they come onto the radar,” Scaglione said.

shickey@marionstar.com

740-244-9940

Twitter: @SpenserHickey