New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan has declared a state emergency following the sudden spike of overdose incidence linked with smoking or ingesting synthetic marijuana.

The declaration authorizes public health officials to conduct investigation on stores that are selling synthetic marijuana known as “smacked” and to quarantine the drugs that they will find, state officials said.

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The governor also ordered health officials to coordinate with the local police to immediately seize the said marijuana synthetic that are reportedly sold as potpourri in convenience stores.

New Hampshire officials have been alarmed by the sudden increase in cases of overdose. In Manchester alone, 44 people were hospitalized within 24 hours due to the side effects of taking synthetic marijuana.

The Concord Police Department also reported at least five cases of overdose incidents linked with the said synthetic drug.

None of the overdose incidents had been fatal, the police said.

According to Hassan, “smacked” are sold in packets that contain a mix of spices that were sprayed with a synthetic drug similar to tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient found in marijuana, pose serious health threats to the public particularly to the young people.

Placing all of the ten counties in New Hampshire under a state of emergency is a bid to combat the recent spike of overdoses.

"In consultation with the New Hampshire Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, public health officials in the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General's office, I have declared a State of Emergency so that we can move quickly to stop the sale of this dangerous substance that has caused an outbreak of serious overdoses," Gov. Hassan said.

Manchester police chief David Mara believes that a bad batch of the drug was able to make its way into the market and became available in convenience stores.

Tagsmarijuana, Synthetic Marijuana, Marijuana Overdose