The number of Barcelona residents poisoned by smoking cocaine has tripled.

BarcelonaAn increasingly common sight in the emergency room at Barcelona's Hospital Clínic is that of a person arriving with acute drug intoxication with pink nostrils. This is due to an increase in drug use. cough, a mixture of ecstasy and ketamine that is becoming popular among Barcelona residents. It is snorted, like cocaine, and is pink, which is why people who end up hospitalized have tinted nostrils. The center is detecting new behaviors and patterns of drug use in the Catalan capital, warning that cases treated for crack have tripled in the last two years. This substance is crystallized cocaine, which is smoked and can have serious effects on the person who takes it.

"Crack users are chronic users, dependent on a very low socioeconomic status," explained Emilio Salgado, head of the hospital's Clinical Toxicology Unit, on Tuesday. The expert warns that the difference between snorting and smoking cocaine is that, when inhaled, the substance enters the bloodstream much more quickly, which can have a significant impact on the health of the user, who may suffer pulmonary hemorrhage and even death. cough It is also spreading in Barcelona: cases of poisoning from this drug treated at the center have quadrupled by 2024 and Salgado predicts that it will continue to grow in the coming years because it is "in fashion."

Last year, nearly 2,400 patients ended up in the emergency room at Hospital Clínic due to drug poisoning. Sixty-three percent of the cases treated were for drugs of abuse and 25% for medication poisoning, a type of hospitalization associated with self-harm. However, alcohol remains the substance that causes the most emergencies, accounting for more than half of the cases. Cocaine is in second place, with a quarter of the cases ending up in the emergency room. Of the total cases treated for this substance, 10% are for crack cocaine, a percentage that has been increasing in recent years and is worrying experts.

Cannabis treats

Another consumption pattern that has professionals on alert is the rise in cannabis candy. the ARA has already advanced, are sweets that contain a semi-synthetic substance, that is, one that is obtained from the plant but modified in a laboratory and can be between 10 and 15 times more potent than THC,the psychotropic active ingredient in marijuanaLast year, Hospital Clínic treated 24 confirmed cases of cannabis candy poisoning, a figure that has doubled in two years.

These are a type of product that doesn't undergo any quality or safety controls, and since they've only recently arrived on the market, the impact they can have on the mental health of those who consume them is unknown, as well as the level of addiction they can generate. Furthermore, they are accessible and affordable, and the perceived risk is very low, since at first glance, they are just a bag of brightly colored candy. On the other hand, experts are detecting products that contain very high doses, which is known as overdose, and which can cause someone to suffer even if they have a high tolerance for marijuana.

Marina Parra, head of the Pharmacology and Toxicology section of the Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Service at the Clínico, explained that last year they detected 233 cases of new psychoactive substances, which are drugs not controlled by United Nations conventions and which can pose a risk.