K2, K4, K9: the synthetic drugs causing panic in Brazil’s cities

In February this year, David Dias, a 12-year-old child from the outskirts of São Paulo, died of a drug overdose, having smoked a substance that was almost completely unknown to the Brazilian population as recently as last year. Commonly referred to in the country as K2, K4, K9, or the more fanciful “super cannabis,” these consist of synthetic cannabinoids, a family of drugs predominantly known in the U.S. and Europe as “spice” and which have caused a significant degree of moral panic in Brazil’s big cities.

Speaking to TV station Record, David’s mother said that the kids from her neighborhood began taking drugs in December of last year. “There were no more children running in the street and having fun. You only saw children vomiting, sleeping… it was just drugs.”

The fear surrounding these synthetic drugs concerns their worrying side effects and the lack of consolidated knowledge about their composition. There are widespread reports of the substances causing a momentary “zombie” effect, wherein users lose control of their motor functions and do not respond to stimuli. Spice has also been linked to paranoia, psychosis, and seizures, among other reported...