Synthetic drug overdose victim out of ICU
KINGSPORT — A week has made a huge difference for Shannon Phillips. Friday he craved a chocolate milkshake and wanted his PlayStation. Last Friday, his mother wasn’t even sure he would make it out of intensive care.
A mix of bath salts in his bloodstream and smoking cigarettes rolled with synthetic marijuana caused Phillips, 18, to overdose late last month and forced doctors to strap him to his bed because of his hallucinations and combative behavior.
Fourteen days later, the teen told the Times-News that he does not remember attacking family members or trying to jump out his bedroom window after smoking K2, but being medically sedated with tubes down your nose and throat is enough to scare you straight.
“Never again. Not gonna touch that stuff. Nope,” Phillips said, shaking his head while lying in his room at Holston Valley Medical Center.
“I’m not going to tell you that I’m not going to smoke (regular) marijuana, but this synthetic stuff, it did stuff to me that I didn’t think was possible. I had smoked it before, but it just took me over that night. All I remember was trying to kill the cat. I have smoked (synthetic marijuana) for about a year and a half, and it never went wrong like this.”
Shannon’s mother, Peggy, decided to take her son’s ordeal to the media last week to let people know about what these designer drugs, which are currently illegal to possess and use in Kingsport, can do.
After her son was admitted into intensive care at HVMC last month, she drove to the smoke shop in Kingsport that allegedly sold her son the K2 to confront the management about what had happened.
Peggy repeated her intention Friday to fight the sale and use of the substance.
“I think people in Kingsport need to be real concerned about this,” she said. “You would not believe the amount of people, teenagers and adults, that I have met while I’ve been in here with Shannon who have either had the same thing happen or they have told me that Shannon’s story has scared them away from K2 and things like that.
“I know Shannon is going to have to watch it from now on, but I think he knows what he put the family through and what he did to himself. He’s lucky to be alive, and I just couldn’t stand it if this happened again. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else if I can help it, so I will tell anyone who will listen.”
When Shannon was asked why he used the synthetic marijuana, he gave two answers: It’s cheap, and it’s easy to find.
“I was on probation, and I wanted to use something (to get high). This stuff’s not illegal, anybody can buy it, so I got it. Anyone can walk in and get it at $20 a gram,” he said.
Though he is still weak, Shannon was cleared to go home from the hospital Friday night.
It took 14 days to get the majority of the chemical ingested into his body out of his system, but there could be long-term damage for the remainder of his life.
“Shannon won’t be the same. But we will have him home, and we will help him. That is better than the alternative,” said Peggy.
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I'm still not convinced bath salts and K2 caused this to happen to this kid. I know a few people that smoke this crap regularly and nothing like this has ever happened to them. I agree that different things work differently on different people and I do not agree with the distribution of this synthetic chemical. I do not use any of it myself so I can't base my assumption on experience but I do know that it needs to be addressed mainly by the parents. They are the first line of defense against their children using drugs -- legal or illegal. I don't mean to be negative either but I know that when you make something illegal, it only makes people want to use it more. That's how organized crime began - the prohibition of alcohol. By making it illegal it creates a black market for it and who knows what dealers "stomp" it with before it reaches the streets. To me that's the scary part. Drug dealers couldn't care less if little Jimmy overdoses on it - they see it as losing a customer. This is truly being between a rock and a hard place but I think something needs to be done - just in a different direction.
"Friday he craved a chocolate milkshake and wanted his PlayStation"
"A mix of bath salts in his bloodstream and smoking cigarettes rolled with synthetic marijuana"
"I'm not going to tell you that I'm not going to smoke (regular) marijuana"
All the poor baby wants is his milkshake, playstation and dope!
Get your butt off the couch, get a job and get a life!