Charlie Williams organized a symposium Saturday held by UMC's Nurses Against Illegal Drugs (NEIDS) and LCU to help educate people about the dangers of synthetic drugs.
Williams said that she and a number of other nurses saw that people were being killed by synthetics and wanted to do something about it.
"It started with a few small schools and then more and more people heard about us and invited us into churches, probation offices, foster parents, EMS, fire, police officers," she said. "Anybody that wants us to come and speak, we are an organization that is free of charge, you just have to ask us and we will come out."
Although some of these drugs share the same name as other common street drugs, they can often times be much more dangerous because of what they are made of.
"All of the compounds that are in the synthetics are all chemicals," said Williams. "Nothing is man made, nothing grows in a jar, it is all poison chemicals that they put together. Most of them come from over seas and once they get here you can mix in whatever you want; urine, paint thinner, drain-o, rat poison, then you can sell it to a kid."
NIEDS is not the only organization that is trying to eliminate the usage of synthetics. Jeannine Kelley and her organization, Warriors Against Synthetic Pot (WASP), are also tying to tell people about these drugs.
She helped start WASP after her best friend's son had a close call with an overdose on synthetics.
"In six days it will be his two year anniversary of overdosing on synthetic, and at 25 he has a heart condition with two stints put in and at that point we learned about synthetics and the deadly issues that come along with it," Kelley said. "Its not if you're going to die, its when."
If you have a child or know someone that is using synthetics, Williams emphasizes to watch them closely and have a conversation with them.
"It is very difficult to have a parent come to us and say what do I do," said Williams. "Because we don't know what you can do. There is no way to fix this. Once you are hooked, you are hooked and ultimately it is going to take a lot of time for it to get out of your system. Basically just try to support them and keep a close eye on them and make sure that they aren't repeating it because they are addicted."
Kelley also had a message for anyone using synthetics.
"If you love someone, if you are using synthetics of any kind, and you have anyone in your life that you love, always tell them that you love them and give them a hug because it may be the last one if you continue to use it."
