New designer drug 'Smiles' linked to handful of deaths

By Maurielle Lue
Fox 2 News Reporter

It's a dangerous, new drug that has a lot of names, including 25B, 25I, N-Bomb or Smiles, but it's effects are no laughing matter.  It's a synthetic hallucinogen, LSD magnified, and a single dose could be deadly.

"The potency is completely unpredictable," said Dr. Sanford Veider from Botsford Hospital.

The drug is made in liquid and powder form, often mixed with candy or used as eye drops, even snorted.  The equivalent of snorting bleach, methamphetamines with a psychedelic twist already linked to a handful of deaths across the country.

The side effects could be long lasting.

"Kidney failure, hemorrhages into the brain and, of course, seizures and severe, severe psychotic episodes where people are absolutely uncontrollable," Veider said.

Smiles' makers stay one step ahead of the law by changing the drug's makeup to keep it legal.  It's chemically different than K2 and bath salts and not included in the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 that ban most other synthetic drugs.

For now, you won't find this legal drug in stores.  N-Bomb makers want a low profile, keeping the drug on the black market so it won't be banned.

The drug is most popular on the West Coast, but it has already made its way to Michigan.  State Police are working with the Department of Community Health on an emergency ban, but for now it's up to parents to keep a close eye.

"Even after the drug has worn off, people persistently and continually have hallucinations, like visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, that can go on for days or even weeks after the drug has been taken," Veider explained.