Dangerous ‘Zombie Drug’ Makes Its Way Into Malta
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A dangerous street drug which sends people into a mad frenzy and that has been linked to cannabilism has found its way into Malta.
“Flakka has been circulating across Europe and it has definitely found its way southwards to Malta too, as is the trend for many drugs,” drug expert and forensic chemist Mario Mifsud told Lovin Malta. “I cannot say whether any people have overdosed on it or whether police have made any arrests, but it is definitely here.”
Flakka, also called ‘gravel’ and the ‘Devil’s Drug’, is a cheap synthetic bath salt that comes in powder form and can be inhaled, smoked or injected. It gives users a similar but cheaper high to cocaine, but its effects can be much more dangerous – they have been described as a mix between the stimulant effects of cocaine and ice and the hallucinogenic effects of LSD.
Users have been seen running naked through traffic, throwing themselves at car windows or off balconies, and attempting to perform sex acts on trees.
It caused a media frenzy in Florida three years ago and was attributed to a shocking case of a student who tried to bite the face of a man he had just killed.
Mifsud said emergency doctors at Mater Dei could have a hard time identifying Flakka in people’s bodies as this can only be done if a sample of the drug has been tried and tested at the toxicology laboratory. The problem is, in an attempt to constantly keep one step ahead of lawmakers and police, the drug’s manufacturers are constantly tweaking their products – creating a market saturated by different drugs.
“The drug makers are intelligent chemists, and even Flakka has now been developed into a more potent form,” he said.