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A new deadly high
By Suzanne Le Breton
St. Tammany News
Packaged as bath salts and sold as potpourri, authorities say Cloud 9 is the latest designer drug to hit the streets – and it is dangerous, very dangerous.
A local man and another individual from St. Martin Parish are believed to have taken their own lives after taking the drug, which is completely legal and sold at many convenience stores.
Last month the son of a prominent doctor from the Waldheim area shot himself in the head after he admitted to taking Cloud 9 three days prior.
22nd Judicial District Attorney Walter Reed said Cloud 9 caused the young man, who had a history of drug abuse, to hallucinate and believe his life was in danger to the point that he repeatedly attempted to take his own life until he succeeded.
After being made aware of the dangerous of Cloud 9, which is sold under many names including Widow Maker, Train Wreck, Nightcap, Bath Bomb and White Dove, Reed partnered with St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain with the intent of warning parents and hopefully saving lives.
Sheriff’s Office detectives and investigators with the District Attorney’s Office paid a visit to convenience stores in the parish and were successful in persuading them to remove Cloud 9 from their shelves.
At a price of $15-20 per quarter gram, Reed said it is obvious this substance is intend for some other use besides bath salts or potpourri.
“The manufacturers know its not potpourri and our kids know its not potpourri,” he said.
The substance contains traces of a schedule 5 drug, though not enough to make it illegal.
It is being snorted, smoked and injected and has been described as a hallucinogenic speed, more potent than anything else on the streets.
“Addicts we have arrested say it produces a more severe high than things they have done in the past,” Strain said.
“Hard core drug users have said this is the worst drug they have ever had,” Capt. Harry O’Neal, head of the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab, said.
The high from Cloud 9 lasts for up to six days, during which time the individual is completely uncontrollable and become suicidal.
“This stuff has the propensity to cause suicides in our young people,” Reed said, urging all parents to be on the look out for the packets in their children’s rooms and to discuss with their children the dangers of this drug.
“If you see this in your kid’s room, please take it and call us because this can cause the death of your son or daughter,” he said.
Cloud 9 and similar products started showing up in local stores after it predecessor, MoJo, was made illegal.
He said unfortunately before the ink was dry on that legislation, manufacturers were already adjusting the chemical makeups to produce items that could produce legal items the same effect.
Strain and Reed said they will work with state leaders to have legislation introduced next session that would make Cloud 9 and any similar substance illegal.
He added that while MoJo caused a high, similar to marijuana, Cloud 9 is much more potent and the ramifications are much worse.
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