How the Drug K2 is Killing American Prisoners, and how we can fix this
Here I am, writing this article from Danville Correctional Center, as one of America’s Prisoners. And I'm experiencing firsthand the hazardous effects of thousands of Prisoners using the drug “K2”, even though a very simple measure can be taken, which solves everything.
What is K2?
K2 (also known as “spice”) is a drug that has been popular in Illinois’ Prisons. K2 is inarguably a bad drug. It isn’t like Marijuana or Psychedelics which can be argued: have medical benefits. K2, like Cocaine or Heroin, is just bad. It fucks up your body, it fucks up your heart. But people get addicted to it just because of the temporary high it gives.
Now for any Prisoner who prioritizes getting high or making money, why wouldn’t you smuggle this drug. K2 is a “spray-on” drug, so all you need is someone outside of Prison to spray the drug onto pages of “letters”, mail those letters to a Prisoner and voilà. A tiny half-inch bit of paper can get someone high for about 2–3 hours, and can be bought and sold for 10 dollars. So you can buy one hundred dollars of K2 outside, traffic it to Prisoners, and make thousands of dollars.
And once an inmate receives those sheets of papers, they can use items available in a cell, like batteries, pen holders and wires to “light up”. As of this moment, there is no way to empirically identify the drug once you take it. Even if you had just taken the drug a minute ago, there is no urine test or whatever to show that the drug is in your body.
The Dangers of K2 in Prison
Now this might sound contradictory: although in the long-term I think all drugs are bad for everyone, I think all drugs should and will be legalized. It should be your human right if you want to harm yourself. However, it should not be a human right to be able to harm others, and there lies the problem.
If there’s a Prison cell with 2 people and both cellmates are smoking K2, and none of the secondhand smoke is exposed to Prisoners outside the cell, I don’t think you should be punished. I don’t think you should ever smoke K2 and destroy your health, but hey, that’s your right. But a lot of the time, just one cellmate is smoking while the other cellmate isn’t. But the latter is stuck in the cell with the drug-addict. And eventually, after a few years or months of being exposed to the secondhand smoke, the non-drug-taking cellie contracts an incurable brain or heart disease, and his life is ruined.
Some Prisoners are even bold enough to smoke K2 out in the dayroom (“dayroom” is the common area where around 60 Prisoners go out for a few hours each day). And because of the smoking, secondhand smoke engulfs the dayroom. There’ve been reports of both inmates and officers coughing and fainting because of the smoke, and have to be sent to hospital.
The Police Aren’t Doing Enough I’m not sure if IDOC actually considers this, or it’s a gross case of police negligence. But there are many areas in the Prison I’m currently in (Danville Correctional Center), where there are dozens of inmates smoking K2, the smoke is covering the air, and I’m pretty sure the police knows about it.
Yet, unless an inmate is literally unconscious on the ground, near death, the police don’te do anything about it, they don’t give a fuck.
How to Fix this
Now I’ve heard that IDOC is trying to fix this K2 epidemic. They’ve considered training dogs to be able to sniff out the drug. They’re thinking of installing cameras in all the dayrooms to catch anyone who smokes. One Prison has started using a photocopier, and mandating that every piece of mail sent in be copied. That copied mail is then delivered to the Prisoners, instead of the original. So Prisoners can never receive the K2 sprayed onto the original letter, and the drug has vanished from that Prison.
Of course, the problem with the previously mentioned solutions is that they cost a lot of money and resources. And in my Prison Danville Correctional Center, with all the daily yard, gym, dayroom and chapel service they’ve been cancelling, it’s clear they’re severely understaffed as is.
But, I have a solution that will greatly reduce the Prisoners who take K2, and it requires no resources other than a little added effort from the existing officers (who much of the time are just sitting around doing nothing).
The solution is ... just have a rule where if a Prisoner displays symptoms of smoking K2 (bloodshot eyes, incoherent speech, difficulty moving etc.), other inmates can report on him, and that person will receive medical help as well as be punished.
It is absolutely ridiculous that I’ve seen someone shaking violently, having a seizure in the dayroom, bloodshot eyes, high as neptune. I reported that to the police and they just went over, looked at him a little, and then walked away. What the fuck? The officers just thought he was sleepy or something!
Now maybe I can give the police the massive benefit of the doubt, and say that they’re not incompetent, and they actually do want to punish these drug addicts. But because there’s no way to identify the drug in their body, and no rule that it’s enough to punish someone even if they display symptoms of taking K2, the police can’t do anything. So, just make sure inmates will be heard when they report that they’ve seen someone taking K2, and all is good.
I have snitched (i.e. reported) on 2 inmates who overdosed (the only reason why one report was successful was because the guy was laying flat on the ground vomiting on himself). And because I snitched, less Prisoners are smoking in the dayroom in fear of getting caught, and therefore less Prisoners are being exposed to the secondhand smoke. Snitching has helped make the Prison Wing I’m in one of the safest areas in Prison.
I’ll try to send this article to Danville local media, the warden of my correctional facility, and the director of IDOC, to hopefully generate enough pressure for them to implement changes. Prisoners are punished enough as it is, they don’t deserve to be exposed to this deadly drug.
Next Post on K2: My Experience with Prisoners taking K2