HARLEM — Almost as many people have visited city emergency rooms after using K2 in three days last week as in the entire month of June, according to the Department of Health.
From July 11 to the 13, there were 130 emergency room visits related to K2, also known as synthetic marijuana — compared to 140 in the month of June. June's K2-related emergency room visits represented the lowest number in more than a year.
Last week's spike comes in the wake of an incident in which 33 people overdosed on K2 in Bedford-Stuyvesant near the intersection of Broadway and Myrtle Avenue. The area has been dubbed "K2 Heaven" and is described as the epicenter of the epidemic.
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On Tuesday, dozens of people were seen vomiting, collapsed on the pavement, urinating and breathing heavily near the intersection.
"It was a scene out of 'The Walking Dead.' People were stumbling all over the place," area resident Brian Arthur, 38, told DNAinfo New York.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a press conference Wednesday, said the NYPD told him the K2 strain in Brooklyn was dangerous.
“There’s lots and lots of forms of K2. Lots of mixtures. This one was a very bad and dangerous one that people didn’t know before and were trying and it had really horrible effects,” de Blasio said.
Close to half of the K2 emergency room visits last week — 46 percent — were linked to Bushwick, Williamsburg, Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, according to the Department of Health.
Even with last week's spike, the number of emergency room visits is nowhere near the 1,500 K2-related emergency room visits in July 2015, officials said.
After an enforcement effort aimed at cracking down on the sale of K2, health officials said there has been an 85 percent decrease in emergency room visits related to the drug since this time last year.
They attribute the drop to enforcement, tougher new laws and a campaign to educate the public about the dangers of using of K2.
Under the laws passed by the City Council, selling any product labeled as synthetic marijuana is now a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, a $5,000 fine and civil penalties of up to $50,000.
Previously, the manufacturers of synthetic marijuana would routinely make changes to the chemical composition of the drug to avoid controlled substance laws.
"That's one of the things that makes the drug so dangerous," de Blasio said. “We’ve got to help our young people understand this is not like other drugs. All drugs should be approached with great suspicion but this one changes all the time and in some ways is very, very dangerous.”
Stores caught dealing K2 will now risk revocation of their license to sell tobacco. A first violation can result in the tobacco license being revoked for 30 days and a second violation can lead to permanent revocation.
Stores that sell synthetic marijuana can now be closed under the city's nuisance law. Previously, stores only faced a $250 fine.
"If you're selling this drug we have the ability to shut you down. We will literally take away your livelihood,” de Blasio warned.
East Harlem, near 125th Street and Lexington Avenue, was described as the center of the K2 epidemic last year. Area residents say things have gotten better since the city performed a multi-agency crackdown.
De Blasio said a similar effort is underway in Brooklyn.
Still, the toll of the drug runs deep. There have been more than 8,000 K2-related emergency room visits since January 2015, with men making up 90 percent of the patients.
Ten people died from K2-related scenarios in 2015, although nine of the deaths involved other drugs such as benzodiazepines, alcohol, heroin or cocaine.
