Brain-melting drug flakka declining in Ky

The brain-melting synthetic drug that Kentucky law enforcement officials feared would ravage the state with paranoid, violent addicts is dwindling.

Last year Lewis County Sheriff Johnny Bivens and his deputies were bedeviled by drug users on a synthetic substance called Alpha-PVP, nicknamed “flakka.”

The illegal drug causes a high that lasts longer than crack cocaine and is more intense than methamphetamine. But its signature characteristic – something called excited delirium – earned nationwide attention after high-profile incidents in several states, especially Florida. During the delirium, users’ body temperatures can rise to 105 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, literally melting the brain. During these episodes, users also show superhuman-like strength and become a danger to law enforcement.

“We’re seeing some still,” Sheriff Bivens said recently. “We’re hearing reports of it still coming in. The other day we were dealing with some people who were actin’ crazier than hell so I’m sure they were on it. But there’s been a drop off.

“It’s around but not like it was. …  They were wearin’ me out.”

The Kentucky State Police crime lab has seen a decline in the number of flakka cases from last year and from its peak in 2012. Though the number of cases has been small – only a handful per month this year compared to hundreds for heroin – the wild, unpredictable behavior of its users had law enforcement officials worried. Addicts have kicked out police cruiser windows, led deputies on foot pursuits and wielded weapons.

The Kentucky legislature stiffened penalties for trafficking flakka during its last session. But federal officials attribute a change in Chinese law to its decline in availability.

Special Agent Melvin Patterson of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the Chinese government in October 2015 banned a list of 116 psychoactive substances, and Alpha-PVP was on the list. Before that, more than 150 Chinese chemical companies legally sold Alpha-PVP online.

“So that’s probably why you’ve seen the downturn of the drug,” he said. “Now there are still some companies out there in China selling flakka or Alpha-PVP. Some of them are still advertising it, and we see them. I think they’re trying to take a wait-and-see approach on what the enforcement level is going to be. And then others are like, ‘You know what, we’ve got legal things that we can send out there that aren’t on this list that we’re going to continue shipping out.'

“There are other companies using the dark web to advertise, but for the most part the monitoring of those companies that we had identified before, they’ve backed off big time.”

Jim Hall, a drug epidemiologist at the Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparity at Nova Southeastern University, said flakka has virtually disappeared from Broward County, Florida, which had been the epicenter of the drug outbreak. Much of that has to do with the Chinese ban, though there was a coordinated effort by city officials, hospitals and drug rehab centers to educate people about the drug's dangers.

“When China bans a substance ,they’ve been pretty effective in drying up its availability,” Hall said.

Van Ingram, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, said Kentucky drug users are on to illicit fentanyl, which federal officials have said is now the nation's biggest drug threat.

“This is a never-ending battle,” he said. “There’ll always be somebody else that comes up with a new way to try to create a new product and deliver it into the drug supply. It’s so frustrating.

“These are all preventable deaths. They’re all senseless.”

Originally published in the Courier Journal