By Nelson Oliveira
New York Daily News
BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. — A bizarre new drug trend is bugging authorities in West Virginia.
Police on Monday warned that drug dealers are making synthetic methamphetamine out of wasp spray and selling it on the streets of Boone County, according to local reports.
West Virginia State Police told WCHS-TV the dangerous drug may have played a role in three overdoses last week.
The substance can completely alter a person’s mental status and lead to erratic and delirious behavior, among other symptoms.
“From what we’re being told, if you use it, you know, you might use it one or twice and be fine, but the third time when your body hits that allergic reaction, it can kill you,” Sgt. Charles Sutphin told the ABC affiliate.
It’s unclear what has led to the trend, but insect killers are legal and cheap, which can facilitate the production of meth.
At least two other states have seen cases of wasp spray in recent years.
In Ohio, three people who appeared to be high on the drug experienced hallucination as they were taken into custody in March 2018. One of them began to contort inside a county jail just like a wasp does when it’s hit by the spray, authorities told WCPO-TV at the time.
In Tennessee, a man high on wasp spray meth went into a family’s home in December 2017, cut himself with a knife, threw a dresser down the stairs, jumped from a second-floor window, took off his clothes, climbed onto a tree and then threw fecal matter at the officers trying to arrest him, according to News Channel 5 in Nashville.
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