Bath salts, in general, are psychoactive synthetic drugs (designer drugs) made in large quantities in foreign drug labs. Some brand names of synthetic cathinones include Bliss, Vanilla Sky, Lunar Wave, Cloud Nine, and White Lightning. Flakka is the street name for the synthetic cathinone called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (Alpha-PVP). Word on the street is that Flakka (also called gravel or flocka) is a combination of heroin and crack, or heroin and methamphetamines, but in reality, Flakka is just a newer-generation version of bath salts.

What are the Effects of Flakka?

Always conduct independent research (e.g. Google, DuckDuckGo, PubMed) to ensure that a combination of two or more substances is safe to consume. Below, we’ll explain flakka, why it can be so dangerous, and how communities can respond with both precaution and compassion.

Flakka Effects

This compound has been available online as recreational designer drug. In recent news, Flakka was behind a man stabbing and allegedly attempting to eat a Florida couple. This could be a possibility as aside from causing violent behavior, the drug also boosts a user’s physical strength.

Treatment Options for Flakka Addiction

Back in 2010, not a single case of the drug had been reported in the US. About 22 percent of the drug seizures that tested positive for alpha-PVP came from South Florida, according to the data. It comes in different forms and can be eaten, injected, smoked or snorted.

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As with other stimulant drugs, Flakka greatly increases the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This trips the brain’s reward pathway, causing a euphoric high and priming a person to feel cravings to repeat the experience in the future. While terminology varies, and those who purchase illicit drugs can rarely be 100% sure of the product they purchase, Flakka generally refers to Alpha-PVP, a specific synthetic cathinone. Learn to spot the warning signs of abusing common prescription drugs and learn about treatment options for pill addiction. If these behaviors remind you of the ones that made headlines a few years ago with the appearance of drugs called “bath salts” — it isn’t a coincidence.

“Even a mild overdose can cause heart-related problems, or agitation, or severe aggression and psychosis.” After the high comes a period of “comedown”, a state when Flakka leaves the body. When this happens, the user may feel extreme depression and fatigue, prompting the user to use the drug again to get rid of the negative comedown experience. Tolerance to many of the effects of α-PVP develops with prolonged and repeated use. This results in users having to administer increasingly large doses to achieve the same effects.

When the brain gets used to these pleasant sensations, it is hardwired to want more, leading to a higher tolerance, greater dependence and a potentially deadly addiction. Known as the poor man’s cocaine, Flakka is both cheap and accessible, further increasing the potential for abuse, especially among young people. It might be a term of endearment in Latin America, but “la flaca” means something entirely different in the international drug world.

Signs of use include paranoia, hallucinations, violent behavior and self-injury. If you’re concerned your child may be using flakka or other substances, the following can help you address the behavior more effectively. Like cocaine and meth, flakka comes with a comedown, the period when the drug leaves the body and the person is left feeling fatigued or depressed. This sensation often results in users returning to the drug to get rid of the negative comedown feeling, jump-starting a cycle of use that can lead to abuse.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration placed a temporary ban on a-PVP and nine of synthetic cathinones in March 2014. The designer drug is still classified by the DEA as a Schedule I Controlled Substance as of May of this year. At least 20 other countries have banned or regulated a-PVP in some way. The Chinese government banned flakka and 115 other synthetic drugs as of October 1st – just weeks before the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Bo Peng, one of China’s biggest flakka traffickers. Flakka is known to spike your body temperature up to 104 degrees, if not higher.

Subjective effects

• Combinations with the following substances can cause dangerously high serotonin levels.
• In connection, long term effects of this drug are yet to be published.
• Experts worry that some survivors of flakka overdoses may be on dialysis for the rest of their life.
• “Flakka largely emerged as a replacement to MDVP in ‘bath salts’,” said Lucas Watterson, a postdoctoral researcher at Temple University School of Medicine Center for Substance Abuse Research.

The drug takes on the form of a pink or white, nasty-smelling crystal that can be snorted, eaten, injected or even vaporized in an e-cigarette. When vaporized, overdosing on the drug may happen as the drug quickly enters into the bloodstream. Flakka is dose-specific that even a minute amount will give the user his desired effect.

The practice of jump-starting a cycle of Flakka used to counter negative come downs will eventually lead to tolerance to the drug. This will eventually require the user to increase the dosage of the drug to experience the same “high”, thereby exposing the user to overdose, dangerous effects, drug dependence and even death. It is also worth noting that these effects will not necessarily occur in a predictable or reliable manner, although higher doses are more liable to induce the full spectrum of effects. Likewise, adverse effects become increasingly likely with higher doses and may include addiction, severe injury, or death ☠. Α-PVP, or alpha-Pyrrolidinovalerophenone, is a synthetic substance belonging to a group called the substituted cathinones.

At high doses, flakka may also cause the body to reach high temperatures (bath salts have been linked with the same symptom). This excessive temperature can lead to severe physical complications like kidney damage and muscle breakdown. Flakka, being related to amphetamines, causes alertness, hyperactivity, anxiety, profuse sweating, and extreme agitation. In some cases, the individual can have bizarre behaviors, hallucinations, delusions, confusion, or health distress. A typical dose is just 0.003 ounces (0.1 grams), but “just a little bit more will trigger very severe adverse effects,” Hall told Live Science.

Like cocaine and methamphetamine, Flakka stimulates the release of feel-good flakka drug wikipedia brain chemicals such as dopamine and norepinephrine, Hall said. The drug also prevents neurons, or brain cells, from reabsorbing these brain chemicals, meaning the effects of the drug may linger in the system longer than people anticipate. In the United States, flakka is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs are defined as substances with a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. This classification means that it is illegal to manufacture, distribute, or possess flakka.

However, dopamine depletion or receptor damage can lead to crashes, depression, or psychosis over time. Another serious, potentially lingering side effect of flakka is the effect on kidneys. The drug can cause muscles to break down, as a result of hyperthermia, taking a toll on kidneys. Experts worry that some survivors of flakka overdoses may be on dialysis for the rest of their life.

In addition, such agitation may trigger Taser use or other methods that have the potential to harm the individual when law enforcement personnel have to intervene. Flakka is a synthetic cathinone drug chemically similar to bath salts, whose effects mirror that of the stimulant cocaine. It most commonly takes the form of white or pink, foul-smelling crystals that can be eaten, snorted, injected, smoked, or vaporized.