Area Narcotics Officers Give Parents the ABC’s of Drugs

It looks like a Jolly Rancher only the main ingredient is marijuana.

Candy weed is a new trend in the ever-changing drug world, Lake in the Hills narcotics officers told District 158 parents at a recent drug forum. There’s also cannabutter, which is a butter infused with marijuana.

“The fact is our adolescents are living in a drug culture that didn’t exist before,” LITH Detective Lloyd Howen said.

Exposure to illegal drugs dramatically increases when students transition from elementary schools to junior high school, Howen said. The forum was held at Marlowe Middle School on Thursday.

The more common drugs teens are exposed to in LITH and McHenry County are cocaine, heroin and marijuana, Howen said. Alcohol continues to be a drug of choice for area teens because it is easy to get their hands on it_ just like prescription drugs, he said.

Cocaine has been more prevalent in the area within the last three to four months, LITH Det. Jason Draftz said. An 8 ball can cost $120 to $150.

Heroin can be less expensive, costing $20 for a hit, the detectives said.

“Heroin is out here. It is being used by kids,” Howen said. People think McHenry County is a safe haven but authorities are making arrests throughout the county, he said.

The highly addictive drug is known as H, Blow, Gravy and the Big H on the street. People buy the drug in Chicago or Rockford and pay $10 for a hit, about 1/10 of a gram. The cost in the suburbs is double for a hit. Raw heroin costs $200 a gram, he said.

Marijuana is a perennial drug in LITH and the county. It can be purchased for $5 a baggie. McHenry County authorities have busted numerous clandestine growing operations this year. While some may say marijuana is just a plant, the marijuana on the streets nowadays is manufactured to produce a stronger high, Draftz said.

Draftz and Howen are both assigned to the McHenry County drug unit and have seen other drugs become popular with teens. Recently, LITH had a case where undercover detectives bought liquid Ecstasy. The liquid is placed on breath mints or candy so dealers can swallow the evidence if stopped by police, Howen said.

K2/Spice is another drug that has become more prevalent in the last year. A law enacted in January 2012 made it a felony to buy or sell the synthetic drug, which had been sold in some shops. Recently, one LITH business owner was charged with selling the drug. The problem with K2/Spice is that it’s not illegal in other states so teens can purchase it online.

The drug is among a long list of designer drugs. K2/Spice is a hallucinogenic 10 times more intense than marijuana, the detectives said. It cannot be detected in a blood test so it is hard for police to make arrests. LITH police responded to a home where a young teen could not speak and seemed to be having a seizure, Howen said. It turned out he had taken some K2/Spice but survived.

Another synthetic drug that has been getting national attention is called bath salts. There have been a few high profile situations involving people allegedly high on the drug, which has a four hour euphoric high. In one case, a man in Florida attacked a homeless man and began eating a portion of the victim’s face off.