K2 Spice: A Nightmare Without End

This cautionary video draws attention to the dangers of synthetic marijuana, aka K2 or spice. Although it takes the form of a documentary, the participants here are actors. Renee Hewitt, who introduces herself as a mom, recounts stories of users. In the first, “The American Dream,” Eddie, the son of immigrants, attacked his friend, Joe, and ended up in the hospital the first time he tried spice. While he did get better, his parents wonder if their son will ever truly recover. In “The Love of the Game,” Robin remembers her son Kyle, who loved to play football but started hanging out with a bad crowd in his teens. In a dramatic re-enactment, Kyle leaves school one day, loads a gun, and heads for the woods. After a moment of reflection, he calls his father. At the hospital, doctors treat Kyle with anti-psychotics, which have little effect, so they move him to a psych unit. After that, he continues to cycle in and out of the hospital. Another mother, Karen, talks about her son in “I Never Had to Worry About Max.” As with Eddie, it only took one encounter with spice to cause a psychotic break, which led to the car accident that took his life. As Karen puts it, “It's just chemicals sprayed on leaves. It's not a marijuana alternative.” The final story, “Max's Hands,” features a college student who tried spice and came to believe that his hands were instruments of the devil. While there is useful (and alarming) information here, a conventional documentary would have served the material better. Still, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Fennessy)