“Flakka’s been around for about the last 10 years; within the last five, we’ve seen it come into Montgomery County,” said Ann Stevens of the county’s Alcohol, Drug & Mental Health Services.
The synthetic drug can be snorted, smoked or eaten. The high from the drug can lead to dangerous behavior that puts the user and the public at risk.
“We’ve heard stories about people running into traffic naked, brandishing machetes,” Stevens said. “Those kinds of things we’ve heard nationally. Locally, we really haven’t seen that kind of behavior.”
There weren’t many people in the area who said they’d heard of the synthetic drug.
“No, I really haven’t heard of flakka before,” said Dion Render of Dayton.
“I haven’t heart about this one yet,” said David Hood of Waynesville.
Dayton police in 2012 saw 62 cases of flakka use that required police assistance, according to ADMHS statistics. So far this year, Dayton police have recorded seven calls for service involving flakka.
“Just because we’re not seeing it, doesn’t mean people aren’t using it,” Stevens said.