More than 1,000 packets of K2 — also known as synthetic marijuana — were seized in Brooklyn following an outbreak of overdoses in the borough linked to a tainted batch of the chemical-laced potpourri, the NYPD announced on Thursday.
The NYPD Brooklyn North Narcotics squad raided a Brooklyn home Thursday and left with 1,068 packages of K2, cocaine and pills.
Authorities said that four people were also arrested Thursday following more than 240 overdoses on the drug in East New York, Bushwick, East Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. A total of 74 people have been arrested in the recent crackdown on K2.
Police said last week that two mixtures of the drug have been identified in the latest outbreak. One of those strains, 5 Flouro ADB, has been blamed for a death in Japan, but no fatalities have been reported in New York City.
What’s especially alarming, community leaders and veteran police officers say, it that K2 packets are marketed and packaged like candy for children. But the victims run the gamut, “males, females, even the ages range from late teens to, believe it or not, early 70s,” said NYPD Chief Michael Kempter.
“It’s a mix. It is not discriminating in just one area.”
Officials say Thursday’s seizures will have an immediate impact in several Brooklyn neighborhoods.
The city Health Department said last week’s outbreak was largest in the city since a three-day spate of overdoses in 2016, also in Brooklyn.
Source : Nbcnewyork
