Teens are experimenting with a new dangerous drug called 2C-I, or the friendlier name "Smiles." The drug has already killed two teens who overdosed.
"Smiles," or 2C-I is a combination of several drugs which create a powerful synthetic drug with psychedelic effects. While the drug called "smiles" sounds fun and harmless, it is quite dangerous and can be deadly.
The drug is similar to a combination of MDMA and LSD which causes intense hallucination that can last for a few hours to a few days, according to Yahoo News. The drug appears as a white powder. An overdose of Smiles can cause seizures, kidney failure, extremely high blood pressure and body temperature.
Due to these effects, two teens are now dead. A 17-year-old boy from Grand Forks, North Dakota is one of these victims. According to police reports, Elijah Stai overdosed on the drug. He was at a McDonald's with his friend when he started to act possessed. He was "shaking, growling, [and] foaming at the mouth," according to a police report. He then began smashing his head into the ground. Stai stopped breathing two hours later.
Stai's friend Adam Budge may face 25 years in prison for providing the drug for his friend.
Stai wasn't the only teen to die from a 2C-I overdose in Grand Forks. Christian Bjerk, 18, was found dead on a sidewalk on June 11 after overdosing on the drug.
It seems that the drug is just floating around the Grand Forks area at this time, but much like other synthetic drugs, there may be more cases of the drug being passed around among youth in other parts of the country.
There have been reports of overdoses in Indiana and Minnesota as well.
News of the drug has been spread around by social media and more and more curious teens are trying it out.
There are several videos on YouTube of people trying out this drug. Some videos feature people warning others to not try the drug while some show the effects that the drug has had.
One of the scariest parts is that the drug goes undetected in tests, so medical professionals can't determine if a victim has overdosed.
"The unfortunate thing is if kids who are overdosing on 2C-I go into the hospital with a physical problem, a lot of times they can't test for it so it doesn't show up as a drug overdose," Lindsay Wold, a detective told Yahoo.
Some are comparing the drug to bath salts. Bath salts is another synthetic drugs that causes severe hallucinations and a change in body temperature. Recently a man allegedly killed a pygmy goat after raping it while he was high on the drug.
