Thirty-Three People Collapse On A New York Street At Nine In The Morning After Taking A Bad Batch Of K-2

#1 A Recent Scare Caused Panic On A NYC Street

Passersby at rush hour found something odd when they walked to work on July 12. "Witnesses reported seeing more than a dozen people passing out, vomiting, urinating and convulsing in the middle of the street around 9.30am in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood," in New York City.

#2 Hospitalizations Began When Someone Called 911 Reporting People With 'An Altered State' Of Mind

Firefighters, police, and paramedics responded to the scene and found 33 semi-conscious people in several locations there and in nearby Bushwick. ‘Some of them were motionless. This is nothing you'd want your kids to see.' said 38-year-old resident Brian Arthur. Police initially found 8 victims and then found 9 more shortly after passed out and in different states of unconsciousness.

#3 Brian Arthur Began Filming The Scene And Posting It Live To Facebook

The shocking footage shows people who couldn't stand up straight and had to be held up by police officers as they waited for a stretcher. One woman who was being tended to by a cop was barely conscious, with her eyes rolled back in her head. The entire scene looked eerie and was extremely frightening to children on their way to school.

#4 The Cause Was A Bad Batch Of The Synthetic Drug K-2

A man laid curled up on the sidewalk vomiting with his pants pulled down. Another man looked like he was sleep-walking as cops tried to coax him into an ambulance. Little packages bearing the street names of the drug including "White Tiger" and "Dank" were strewn on the ground. The drug also goes by names such as AK-47, Smacked, Dank, and other such asinine names. One young girl was found naked with two empty packages in her grip that read 'Blue Lilly'.

#5 The Drugs Contain Man-Made Chemicals That Act On The Same Receptors In The Brain That THC Does In Natural Marijuana

It is dirt cheap, often sold for one to five dollars for a stick or package. Effects of the drug can include extreme anxiety, confusion, paranoia, and hallucinations. More than 6,000 people have been sent to the emergency room in New York City because of K2 since the end of 2015 and there have been two confirmed deaths caused by the drug.

#6 The Incident Was Just One Of Many That Neighbors Deal With On A Daily Basis

Chris Yadron, executive director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, said the rash of hospitalizations was likely caused by a bad batch of the drug. If that many people are going to the hospital, it's probably pretty indicative of something pretty toxic," he said.

Neighbors say that the use of the drug is on the rise in that neighborhood and they have even seen people having sex on the streets after using the K-2. One woman has a sign posted in her yard that reads "No Using K-2 Here!" Mayor DeBlasio had signed a bill in October making it a crime to sell or produce K2, punishable by up to a year in jail and fines totaling $55,000.