Disappearance of flakka, synthetic drug that pushed South Florida to the brink

&gt; <i>Tasers didn’t always work on flakka users. And talking them down never did. Deputies had to wrestle users to the ground, punching them to gain control, Tianga said. The official protocol was to attack and attack hard. It looked brutal.</i><p>I don&#x27;t really understand this. How can tazers not work? It&#x27;s a physiological reaction, right? Electric current prevents your nerves from working. How is punching more effective than that?

The media and law enforcement have been so misleadingly sensational in the past about every drug that it is hard to take them seriously anymore. Flakka sure sounds pretty bad but who could know? After watching Reefer Madness you realize that you can&#x27;t trust a thing that comes out of their mouths. I was systematically filled with all sorts of non truths about drugs as a kid in the DARE program. You don&#x27;t forget being misled like that when you are so impressionable.

This is a pretty bad article, with little science and lots of tabloid qualities.<p>Like I suspect many other readers, I had never heard of alpha-PVP, though.<p>Obligatory Erowid link: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.erowid.org&#x2F;chemicals&#x2F;a-pvp&#x2F;a-pvp.shtml" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.erowid.org&#x2F;chemicals&#x2F;a-pvp&#x2F;a-pvp.shtml</a><p>&quot;Euphoric Stimulant&quot; ... &quot;Its dose, effects, and duration are similar to those of MDPV. Chemically, it is a synthetic cathinone, and first became popular in the US in 2013.&quot;

Guess the test was successful and the CIA^h^h^hcompany moved on :-)<p>I am constantly amazed by the way in which people will try anything to get high. Given the ability to compound pretty much anything with anything you know its going to result in a bunch of these sorts of experiences. I guess its how you A&#x2F;B test drug compounds when you aren&#x27;t looking for FDA approval.

Explanation: there are tons of less-conspicuous synthetics the same factories could be pumping out instead. Lots of publicity &amp; graphic anecdotes leads to pressure which isn&#x27;t good for anyone.<p>&quot;flakka was just one of hundreds of lab-made substances so new that governments did not have time to identify and ban them.<p>Hall, at Nova Southeastern University, made sure to bring up the China connection in media interviews last summer...<p>... When they returned, China announced that back on Oct. 1 it had banned 116 different synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and flakka&quot;

Dangers of Flakka are related largely to the prohibition of substances such as MDMA creates a black market where the desired drug is in fact adulterated or substituted with drugs such as alpha-PVP (flakka) or other cathinones, piperazines, etc...

Development of synthetic drugs would not happen if all drugs were legal and available cheap. If available and cheap, then people would get their high from the &quot;known&quot; drugs.