Dozens of Synthetic Marijuana Overdoses in Texas in Past Week

May 04--Twenty seven people have overdosed on synthetic marijuana, commonly known as K2, since Wednesday, according to Austin-Travis County EMS.

Medics responded to four people overnight Saturday in the downtown Austin area where all the incidents have been centralized. Many of the calls for service have been around the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless.

Some of the symptoms that medics are seeing include altered behavior, seizures and people who have injured themselves as a result of taking the drug, EMS spokesman Mike Benavides said.

"They're covering a gambit of what kinds of symptoms they're illustrating," he said. "We're still continuously closely monitoring the situation."

Police have said they have increased patrols in the area and announced Friday that they had made narcotic arrests that caused a disruption in the sale of K2 in the downtown area. Officers arrested several people on drug possession charges and warrants, many of whom were in possession of suspected synthetic marijuana, officials have said. Those suspects have not been identified, and the suspected drugs were being tested, police have said.

Police had not identified a specific brand of the drug, which is sold under various names.

Copyright 2014 - Austin American-Statesman