OCTOBER 31, 2017
President Paula Brahan presided over the meeting. Thanks to Gene Owens who gave the invocation and to Mallory Donald who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thanks to Mary Ariail for serving as our greeters today.
Mike Ratliff thanked those who assisted with today’s meeting. Amber Chancellor has Debbie Sanford as her guest today.
Bill MacLauchlan is today’s pick-a-card winner.
Amber Chancelor then introduced today’s guest speaker, Joanna Hardy. Joanna is a Nurse Practitioner with Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services. Her presentation today will focus on Spice. She says it is an appropriate presentation for a Halloween Rotary Club because it is a very scary substance.
Spice is synthetic cannabis. It is often labeled as a 100% natural substance when it fact there is very little about it that is natural. Spice is made in underground labs, many in China. Although the packaging says “not for human consumption” the packaging is clearly designed to appeal to a young generation.
Joanna says Spice is ten-times more potent than Marijuana. Spice can have varied effects on the user, depending on the chemicals that are sprayed on the product. Often the product is dried flowers, grass or any other substance that can be sprayed and then inhaled. The effects can range from those of a stimulant, an opiate or a hallucinogen.
Using Spice can cause memory problems, elevated body temperature, seizures, psychosis, cardiac arrest, respiratory difficulties and gastrointestinal problems. Depending on the chemicals used to produce the synthetic drug, some or all of these effects can be experienced. The chemicals in Spice break down in the body over time. When it does it can often bind to brain receptors and cause side effects two to three days after its use.
Spice first hit the market in the United Kingdom in 2002. It was legally sold throughout the world in tobacco stores, over the internet and at convenience stores. It made its way to the United States in 2008. By 2010 more than 11,000 emergency room visits in the United States were attributed to Spice usage. By 2012 eleven percent of American high school seniors have reported using Spice. One in eight high school seniors report either using it or having it offered to them. The Poison Control Center reports 7,800 Spice exposures in 2015. Mississippi led the nation with the number of reported cases with 1,300 being reported. New York was next on the list with only 785 exposures. There were 9 known deaths attributed to Spice in our state during 2015.
It is now illegal to make, possess or sell Spice in Mississippi.
Symptoms of use will include an elevated body temperature, sweating, severe agitation, suicidal thoughts or actions and often times very aggressive behavior.
If you see someone suffering these or related symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately. You should also call the Poison Control Center at 800-222-1222.
Paula thanked our speaker today and with no other business or announcements she adjourned the meeting with our motto, “Service Above Self."