Plant food and incense: the new substances of abuse.

Introduction The Internet provides a means of reaching and providing information to a wide population. The authors have noted the availability of substances of abuse packaged conveniently as products for other purposes such as ‘plant foods’, ‘incense’ and ‘bath salts’ which are consumed by abusers for the “highs” they provide.1 Novel synthetic designer drugs that act as stimulants such as gamma hydroxyl butyric acid (GHB) or “Georgia Home Boy” tablets are available for purchase over the Internet. It has been noted that the various substances produced are changed “in response to market trends and legislative controls”.2 The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drugs Addiction revealed that in 2010, there were 40 completely new substances taken by United Kingdom (UK) recreational drug users.3 ‘Plant Food’ includes psychoactive herbs like the salvia divinorum plant which is used in South American countries in religious rituals to experience dissociative effects and visions. Although information on the side-effects is limited, there are a few reports in the literature which describe serious consequences of salvia abuse. The fi rst case reported in 2005 involved an adolescent who experienced an acute mental state change with paranoia for 3 days.4 Other symptoms noted were déjà vu experiences, thought block, blunting of affect and slow speech. In the second case, the patient experienced an acute psychosis and paranoia after smoking salvia.5 The symptoms persisted and required treatment with an antipsychotic but when the patient had stabilised and the antipsychotic was taken off, the patient’s symptoms recurred. The authors highlighted that the patient carried a genetic risk for schizophrenia. A third report was of a patient who experienced bizarre feelings of depersonalisation.6