Devil's Drug': Flakka Is Driving Florida Insane, Makes People Bite Off Victims Face
An emergency room doctor calls it as "five-dollar insanity." A rehab director says it's the "devil's drug."
On the street, it's known as flakka — a synthetic crystal imported from China that is wreaking havoc in South Florida and threatening to spread its misery and profits across the country.
It's cheap, crazily addictive and terrifying. A single dose smoked, swallowed or snorted can give a user a potent but fleeting rush — or turn them into a paranoid zombie with superhuman strength and off-the-charts vital signs.
In the 14 months since the epidemic began in Broward County, 60 people have died. Hospitals are getting dozens of patients a day. And some nights, half the calls to police are flakka-related emergencies.
Homeland Security has a Florida unit devoted to the drug, and United Way of Broward County launched a multi-agency task force to crack down on the scourge.
"If we don't get it right here, it's going to explode," United Way chief executive Kathleen Cannon said.
Floridians say it's the worst drug crisis they have seen since the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. First responders describe nightmarish scenes with users running naked into traffic or impaling themselves on fences.
A 37-year-old old mother of two named Stephanie told NBC News about her first experience with flakka, which she unwittingly smoked during a drug binge.
A quick blast of euphoria was followed by a sickening fear. As the drug deregulated her autonomic nervous system, she began hallucinating that she was being chased and took off running.
Her body temperature spiked and she tore off some of her clothes and jumped three stories off a bridge into the Intercoastal Waterway.
"I just remember being in the water and feeling like I could breathe under water," she said.
She still doesn't remember how she got out, but she ended up in the emergency room and then the psychiatric ward.
On the street, it's known as flakka — a synthetic crystal imported from China that is wreaking havoc in South Florida and threatening to spread its misery and profits across the country.
It's cheap, crazily addictive and terrifying. A single dose smoked, swallowed or snorted can give a user a potent but fleeting rush — or turn them into a paranoid zombie with superhuman strength and off-the-charts vital signs.
In the 14 months since the epidemic began in Broward County, 60 people have died. Hospitals are getting dozens of patients a day. And some nights, half the calls to police are flakka-related emergencies.
Homeland Security has a Florida unit devoted to the drug, and United Way of Broward County launched a multi-agency task force to crack down on the scourge.
"If we don't get it right here, it's going to explode," United Way chief executive Kathleen Cannon said.
Floridians say it's the worst drug crisis they have seen since the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. First responders describe nightmarish scenes with users running naked into traffic or impaling themselves on fences.
A 37-year-old old mother of two named Stephanie told NBC News about her first experience with flakka, which she unwittingly smoked during a drug binge.
A quick blast of euphoria was followed by a sickening fear. As the drug deregulated her autonomic nervous system, she began hallucinating that she was being chased and took off running.
Her body temperature spiked and she tore off some of her clothes and jumped three stories off a bridge into the Intercoastal Waterway.
"I just remember being in the water and feeling like I could breathe under water," she said.
She still doesn't remember how she got out, but she ended up in the emergency room and then the psychiatric ward.
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