Some say the name could be a variation of the Spanish slang word “la flaca” which means “skinny girl”. Some say the term is random and quite fittingly describes what a person high on this drug feels. A popular street name for A-PVP is “gravel” as the pink and white crystals look like those placed in fish aquariums. Though first synthesized in the 1960’s, the use of Flakka in the United States as a recreational drug is fairly recent (2013). In connection, long term effects of this drug are yet to be published.
Why the low cost means young people are at risk.Since flakka’s cheap, it’s a popular drug among college students, as well as low-income people and the homeless population. The designer drug is typically sold online or in the streets for $3 to $5 a hit, whereas a gram of cocaine in the states can cost anywhere from $62 to $80 on average. Many young adults can’t afford to drop that kind of cash, said Cidambi. Flakka also doesn’t carry the stigma cocaine does – at least that’s what some of Cidambi’s college-aged patients told her. Some young addicts believe flakka is just “not as bad as cocaine,” she said.
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An extremely high body temperature can have dire consequences – it can lead to kidney damage or kidney failure, and even death. The synthetic drug can also elevate your blood pressure, which can cause a heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, or heart failure, according to the Mayo Clinic. On the street, Flakka is called ‘gravel’ because it looks a bit like the white crystalline gravel you get at the bottom of aquariums. Street names of designer cathinones include Ivory Wave, Meow Meow, Snow Leopard, Pure Ivory and White Lightning. Following a growing number of stories around abusers’ crazy antics, Flakka has been dubbed the ‘insanity drug’ and ‘Zombie drug’.
What are the Effects of Flakka?
After that, it takes about days for the tolerance to be reduced to half and weeks to be back at baseline (in the absence of further consumption). Α-PVP produces cross-tolerance with all dopaminergic stimulants, meaning that after the consumption of α-PVP all stimulants will have a reduced effect. Flakka, sometimes called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (α-PVP), is a synthetic cathinone known for its stimulant properties and unpredictable potency. “Baths salts” is a term used to refer to synthetic cathinones as a whole, some of which may cause far more intense hyperstimulation than others.
Toxicity and harm potential
Drug users take Flakka to get a feeling of euphoria, a heightened sense of awareness, stimulation, and energy. There is a lack of scientific research on the long term effects of Flakka. However, as psycho stimulant, this drug can cause paranoia, hyper stimulation and hallucinations.
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These patients are a threat to themselves, the people around them, and the first responders (police, EMS) who are there to help them. It is common to hear reports that it takes multiple people to restrain and sedate these patients. Rescue crews and emergency department staff need to give sedatives to these patients to calm them and make them safe. Flakka is commonly referred to as bath salts and technically as α-pyrrolidinopentiophenone hydrochloride 0.786-hydrate (α-PVP). In other terms, it is a new designer drug made from a synthetic amphetamine-like substance marketed as harmless bath salts.
Is Flakka illegal?
It is unclear why the Sunshine State is a hotbed for flakka abuse; “it’s a major question in our community,” Hall said. Flakka comes from China and is sold over the Dark Web to dealers in the United States. Dealers range from college kids needing some extra cash to street gangs who hire younger children to sell to their friends. Because one can buy Flakka for as little as three dollars a dose, the target market is typically young, poor people looking for an easy high. Last year, police in Florida, where flakka has a stronghold, busted a 22-year-old woman for importing the drug from China, the Broward Palm Beach New Times reported.
- Flakka has the tendency to increase a user’s body temperature to 104 degrees Celsius or higher.
- When vaporized, overdosing on the drug may happen as the drug quickly enters into the bloodstream.
- If you or someone you know needs assistance, consider reaching out to a professional or a helpline.
- The designer drug is still classified by the DEA as a Schedule I Controlled Substance as of May of this year.
Also like cocaine and meth, the drug may alter brain chemistry in a way that makes users require a larger and larger dose to get the same high. Flakka is made from a compound called alpha-PVP, a chemical cousin of cathinone, the amphetamine-like drug found in bath salts. It can also cause extreme anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, and psychotic delusions leading to bizarre and out of control behaviors.
The year before, a 22-year-old student at Hunter College in New flakka drug wikipedia York City was arrested for trafficking more than a pound of alpha-PVP from Shanghai into the U.S., according to the New York Post. For those unfamiliar with flakka, here’s what you should know about the designer drug, its make-up and what it can do to a person. We are dedicated to transforming the despair of addiction into a purposeful life of confidence, self-respect and happiness. We want to give recovering addicts the tools to return to the outside world completely substance-free and successful. In other words, Flakka is a type of bath salt, but not all bath salts are Flakka. Some bath salts may be more potent than Flakka, others less, and there is really no way of telling beforehand.
One certainty though is that A-PVP is toxic to the kidneys, but its effects on the body and the brain in the long term are yet to be determined. Because it is 10x more potent than cocaine, is cheap and accessible online, this drug has become very popular to college-age adults. The euphoria effected by this drug is quite intense and getting off takes longer than cocaine or meth. Flakka is a very powerful psychoactive stimulant that is similar to MDPV and pyrovalerone. It is abused mostly for its euphoric effect, alertness, excitement, improved productivity, strength and endurance.
The α-PVP crystals are packaged and look like other bath salts on the market. In 2015, police in Florida reported an outbreak of extremely bizarre behaviors by people after using flakka. In one case in Miami, one man chewed another man’s face after using flakka.
Despite early and well-publicized reports of people high on flakka literally eating others in fits of insanity, there is no evidence that Flakka causes berserk cannibalism. Since flakka is so new, researchers aren’t sure exactly how it affects the brain, or how addictive it is. Tia is the managing editor and was previously a senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com and other outlets. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. It follows that the risks in taking Flakka is considerably more so for people with diagnosed and undiagnosed mental and physical illnesses.
Essentially, it stops the normal recycling of these neurotransmitters. “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. Internationally, the legal status of flakka varies by country, but many countries have taken steps to control its use due to its dangerous effects. Some, plain and simply, refer to the drug as “five-dollar insanity.” For most, the drug is Flakka. We look at all aspects of your life to help you work through your pain points and heal holistically. Once we have instilled a set of coping mechanisms you will return home free from Flakka addiction, but still with the reassurance of 24/7 support from your personal therapist and group mentors.
Bath salts, in general, are synthetic psychoactive drugs made in large quantities in foreign drug labs. These drugs are all related to a broader group of chemical compounds known as cathinones. Each time one type of bath salt is made illegal, the drug labs change the chemical structure slightly and a new drug that is technically not illegal is created. In the case of Flakka, the new chemical is called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone or alpha-PVP.
While psychoactive substances like alcohol, opium, and cannabis have been around for thousands of years, many other drugs appearing on the streets in 2021 are far more recent and far less well understood. While many reports are saying this new designer drug is sweeping the state of Florida, the mind-altering substance has also been popping up in a few other states across the country, including Ohio and Texas. It began with the khat plant that grows in East Africa and Southern Arabia.
To educate your teen, to spread awareness about this drug, however, you must first understand what it is and how it works. Recognising you have a problem is the first step to overcoming addiction. If your Flakka use is out of control or you suspect a loved one is struggling with Flakka abuse, get help today from Delamere. Our peaceful wellness retreat by the forest is the perfect place to begin Flakka withdrawal in safe surroundings. Unfortunately, Flakka abuse and addiction are difficult to treat because the lingering effects can take an uncertain period of time to recover from, if at all. And even among those who enter rehabilitation programs, relapse is common.
Evidence suggests the illegal drug has only recently come on the scene. Very little data exists about the pharmacological properties, metabolism, and toxicity of a-PVP. Due to its potent psychostimulant effects and unknown toxicity profile, it is highly advised to use harm reduction practices if using with this substance.
Flakka is the most recent synthetic compound that has alarmed the public health sector. This new designer drug called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (alpha-PVP) is a tweaked version of bath salts. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), Flakka drug use is surging in Florida. Alpha-Pyrrolidinovalerophenone (also known as α-PVP, A-PVP, alpha-PVP, and flakka) is a novel stimulant substance of the cathinone and pyrrolidinophenone classes.