With the tragedy of the Costa Concordia shipwreck last week several questions have arisen on the state of Captain Francesco Schettino and whether or not he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Pier Luigi Foschi, the President of Costa Cruises was questioned by local press if he thought that Captain Schettino was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Foschi replied that he thought the captain's behavior was emotionally unbalanced. Captain Francesco Schettino submitted to a substance abuse test after the incident in which later his lawyers revealed that a clean toxicology report was returned.
Synthetic Marijuana, also known as "K-2" or "Spice" is a mixture of common herbs sprayed with synthetic chemicals that mirror the high of Marijuana. The synthetic product is sold as incense in head shops, tobacco stores and convenient stores. So far, twelve states have banned the sale of Synthetic Marijuana - (Kansas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, and Kentucky). The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that within the past year there have been over 500 cases of negative reactions to the still legal yet dangerous drug. On the national level the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently designated certain chemicals that are present within Synthetic Marijuana to the same category that heroin and LSD are part of and further emphasizes the need to be able to test blood and urine for Synthetic Marijuana use. On the local level- The Herald Online reported that Fort Mill,...
