JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) -- All state prisons remain on lockdown after nearly 60 prison staff members were exposed to substances since the end of May, causing them to feel ill and many to be taken to local hospitals.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections have implemented an unprecedented statewide prison lockdown.
Officials believe one substance that has sickened more than two dozen employees is a clear, odorless chemical known as synthetic marijuana.
Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said Thursday the liquefied drug, also known as K2, is thought to be coming into facilities soaked into the paper of letters or books.
"It's a chemical-made marijuana that's supposed to mimic those effects, but the trouble is that what's put into it isn't really controlled or known, so it can often be laced with other drugs (and) no one even knows what else is in it," said Dr. Jennifer Savino, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center.
She says the symptoms can be bad for corrections officers exposed to the drug.
"I imagine they're probably more susceptible to it because they probably don't ever use anything like that, so the effects are probably a lot stronger for them," Savino said.
Wetzel says after receiving K2 on paper, inmates then eat or smoke it.
Savino says it can cause a euphoric and relaxed state, like marijuana does, but she says since K2 usually has other things in it, side effects can be worse.
"A lot of people will get really bad anxiety, paranoia. You can get hallucinations with it,” Savino said. “A lot of people get a lot of aggression with it. I've seen people in the emergency department with it. That's usually how they present, with psychosis and aggression."
It's not entirely clear that synthetic marijuana is the only substance causing these illnesses.
"We don't know what's in it. K2 is maybe one of the things that they found, but they probably don't know,” Savino said. “There probably could be other things in it as well that might be giving them symptoms."
Savino says there's not a lot doctors can do to get rid of the effects of K2, other than waiting for it to leave a person's system.
Now state prisons and local jails are on high alert.
The latest numbers from the Department of Corrections show that since May 31, 57 prison staff have been exposed to various substances.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRflrqqsIysq5qslWK9s7XSqKVmnZ2lubDFxJ6qZp6RobmqusZmoKWkXaG8pK3LZpuom6Skv26x16mjmqGeqHqmssWemq2rXaSzbreR