It looks like weed, gets you high like weed, but it’s legal.
And most sweet-smelling homes have it in the cabinet.
“What it is is an incense. On the package itself it says not for human consumption, and the kids are smoking it and they are smoking it to get high," said Ana Moreno, an adolescent therapist at South Miami Hospital’s Addiction Treatment Center. "It’s not marijuana but it’s like a synthetic type of marijuana."
On the Internet, she shows how easy it is to find K2, the most popular brand.
“Specifically in Miami, the teenagers are using it more and more," Moreno said.
That spells trouble for local emergency rooms, which have seen an influx of incense-related cases. The teenagers show up in emergency rooms and appear to be high off of marijuana, but they aren't.
An East Kendall Smoke Shop sold out of K2. The salesman said they had a run on it after a local DJ smoked some on air.
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Moreno said smoking incense can increase blood pressure and pulse, cause vomiting, hallucinations and seizures. A young woman from Texas blacked out and her boyfriend had to call 911.
The makers of K2 told NBCMiami that K2 incense is just that, incense, not sold or intended for human consumption.
Moreno hopes Florida joins three other states that have this kind of incense banned.
