Teen makes dramatic recovery after smoking synthetic marijuana
By Christina Zdanowicz, CNN
Wed September 11, 2013
(CNN) — Nine months after synthetic marijuana destroyed a large portion of her brain, Emily Bauer did something her parents feared they’d never see: She went back to high school.
Excited, nervous and terrified, the sophomore rolled through the hallways of Cy-Fair High School in Cypress, Texas, last week. Despite the familiar surroundings, Emily is living in a new world.
She can’t read or write. She is relearning basic addition and subtraction. A rotating cast of aides help Emily get through her school day. They wheel her from class to class, assist her in the restroom, help her eat, read class material to her and take notes for her, as she is partially blind. She attends school for half the day and goes to therapy in the afternoon.
Teen narrowly escapes death after smoking synthetic marijuana
And the 17-year-old has a message for anyone who wants to try fake weed.
"The high is great, but in the long run, it isn’t good," she said, describing her experience smoking synthetic weed. "It’s no fun to be stuck in a wheelchair, to have to go to therapy or (possibly) die."
But she prefers to focus on the stuff she can do, like getting a perfect score on her first world history quiz.
For the fiery-haired student, simply being back at school is epic.
Less than a year ago, in December 2012, Emily was on life support after several strokes left her paralyzed, blind and largely unaware of her surroundings. Her family has no doubt the drug that landed her in the hospital was synthetic marijuana. Her parents first believed she had only tried it a couple times. But they recently learned the extent of her use — Emily told them she smoked it daily for the two weeks before she went to the hospital.
Best known by the street names "Spice" or "K2," fake weed is an herbal mixture sprayed with chemicals intended to create a high similar to smoking marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Advertised as a "legal" alternative to weed, it’s often sold as incense or potpourri and in most states, it’s anything but legal.
Emily is far from alone in her scary experience. Last week, three people in Colorado and others in Georgia may have died after smoking the drug, according to state health officials. The Colorado Department of Public Health launched an investigation after 75 people were hospitalized in late August after using the substance.
CNN first wrote about Emily in February, after learning about her story through iReport. A lot of people were quick to say then that marijuana should be legalized so drugs like these aren’t on the market. Others pointed out after the Colorado news that marijuana is legal in that state. Emily’s stepfather, who has been in her life since she was born, is not interested in the debate.
"My focus is trying to get rid of this one bad product and not trying to substitute with anything else," said Bryant.
Bryant and his family started an organization called Synthetic Awareness For Emily to educate families, as well as teachers and doctors, about the dangers and warning signs of synthetic marijuana use. He said his goal isn’t to scare students — he just wants them to be aware that this stuff is out there.
"I’m trying to get the kids to realize that one bad decision could lead to a lifetime of pain," Bryant said. "Not just for them, but for their loved ones."
It’s been a slow recovery. After months in the hospital, Emily’s family had to operate a lift in their home to move Emily from the bed or from the chair.
Now Emily can stand up and shift herself, so it’s easier for her parents to transfer her on their own, her mother Tonya Bauer said.
She can’t walk, but she’s been taking physical steps at therapy sessions. Special equipment supports her body so she can focus on moving her feet.
Emily has difficulty lifting the front of her foot, also known as "foot drop." Her feet point straight down when she stands up, which puts her knees and hips out of alignment. The family has opted for a tendon-lengthening surgery in the near future. Her mother hopes the surgery will mean Emily will be able to walk again one day.
As Emily recovers, she and her family try to find joy in doing small things. They go out to movies and ice cream here and there, and they even took Emily to a Drake concert a few weeks ago.
Seeing Emily sing along and be a teenager again, along with watching the handicap bus whisk her off to school last week, are signs that Emily is feeling more like herself, said her parents.
And here’s more evidence: During her telephone interview with CNN, she sounded just like a typical 17-year-old girl.
"Our goal is to get Emily independent again so she can live on her own one day," said her mother. "Having her go back to school has really made us see that this is possible."
"Your as mighty as the flower that grows the stones away"
Glad to see she is doing better. I still don’t think spice was the only factor that happen that day.
It wasn’t the only factor.
They mentioned she has high blood pressure. When combined with SC’s the condition can cause bad things to happen in some people.
High blood pressure + spice = possible physical damage and long term health effects
"Your as mighty as the flower that grows the stones away"
Um, really? You honestly think that?
I trust the hospitals opinion, the doctors opinion, and whatever test they did on her more than I trust your conspiracy theories.
But tell me – what do you suppose did this to her? French Fries? Please enlighten me.
"Your as mighty as the flower that grows the stones away"
Um, really? You honestly think that?
I trust the hospitals opinion, the doctors opinion, and whatever test they did on her more than I trust your conspiracy theories.
These are research chemicals, I doubt doctors and hospitals know anything about these chemicals or the bad reactions some can cause. Why do you think all these hospitals and doctors are baffled? They don’t know shit about it…
Um, really? You honestly think that?
I trust the hospitals opinion, the doctors opinion, and whatever test they did on her more than I trust your conspiracy theories.
These are research chemicals, I doubt doctors and hospitals know anything about these chemicals or the bad reactions some can cause. Why do you think all these hospitals and doctors are baffled? They don’t know shit about it…
:goodpost
Um, really? You honestly think that?
I trust the hospitals opinion, the doctors opinion, and whatever test they did on her more than I trust your conspiracy theories.
These are research chemicals, I doubt doctors and hospitals know anything about these chemicals or the bad reactions some can cause. Why do you think all these hospitals and doctors are baffled? They don’t know shit about it…
The bad shit that befell me was proof to me that Dr’s don’t know anything about spice, nobody I spoke with had ever heard of synthetic mj
prolly not many folks will admit using the stuff to their Dr. & it could come back to haunt a person later, all medical records are now inscribed &
sent to a database. My thought is for more dangerous violent offenders who may have lost there gun rights over seeking treatment for mental
difficulties–as the directives become better known, obamacare becomes ever more oppressive & unconstitutional
It could very well have been an impurity in the chem as well. Maybe a bad synthesis or something
Was the chemical in question ever identified?
A series of strokes? Synth marijuana might have triggered it, but that sounds like a pre-existing condition or hard drug use. Lately, blends have become a good scapegoat.
Synth marijuana might have triggered it, but that sounds like a pre-existing condition or hard drug use.
Synthetic Cannabinoids are "hard drugs".
"Your as mighty as the flower that grows the stones away"
not as hard as heroin or coke or Lsd or Angel dust, or MDMA..so on and so on..
my spider sense is picking up a theme here..lol
TBL rocks for peeps that hate the RC chems..
not as hard as heroin or coke or Lsd or Angel dust, or MDMA..so on and so on..
my spider sense is picking up a theme here..lol
TBL rocks for peeps that hate the RC chems..
Haha, what theme is that? Looks like some folks who once loved the blendage with a passion, is starting to change their tune a bit? Nothing wrong with that, much respect.
But constantly posting these "fishy" media reports, saying how negative they are, BUT then asking folks if they "tried" the latest noids seems hypocritical and weird to me. If you don’t like them, then stop researching the newest noids… stick to mj, which some of us prefer, but cant partake in, for various reasons.
Traditionally cb receptor "drugs" don’t cause strokes… there are a slew of readily available party drugs that do. It’s kind of like this… kid has stroke, parents find pipe and blendage, blame is assigned. Synths are the great unknown… semi magical substances that can be assigned any convenient effect. Maybe it was the meth her boyfriend introduced her to the week before, or that bump of coke her best friend shared, or the dirty X she tried the night before… or huffing keyboard cleaner. 17 year olds try lots of stupid shit. She certainly wasn’t in any shape to clarify things to her parents.
In any case, this is why kids shouldn’t fuck with drugs. Glad she’s doing better, but I seriously doubt we’ll ever get the true story here. Synths R Bad, thats their story and they’re sticking to it… just like them villifying salvia, Dungeons &Dragons, and Harry Potter.
You haven’t read the whole story about her (not just this article).
She had been smoking it heavy for two weeks, during which she was getting really bad headaches (she called migranes), and would just go to sleep to make it go away.
After two weeks, she went to sleep one time to shake it off and woke up thrashing around and yelling, blind and retarded.
Don’t kid yourself – SC’s are very hard drugs, made in labs (usually in China) with questionable purity controls.
Do you guys remember about 4 months back the Mad Hatter sent me a sample and it arrived with white powder separated from the base herbs, looked like coke and some damiana. I threw it out.
Shortly after he made a post saying that his chemicals had been compromised, and that people should throw out any of his product purchased between certain months.
My question is this – how was it compromised? Was it poor synthesis? If so what were the by-products and were they dangerous?
Or was it full of "cut"? We all know that cocaine can be cut with Inositol or even chopped up aspirin, and snorting it isn’t really bad for you.
But who knows what SMOKING cut would do to you. I threw my Hatter crap out, but how many of you smoked it? How many of you have lung conditions now and don’t realize it? Maybe you’ll end up with asthma down the road? I also remember a few people having really bad reactions to Hatter’s stuff then, like Dashneo seizing up and shitting himself in front of his dorm supervisor.
"Your as mighty as the flower that grows the stones away"