Police Issue Warning About New Synthetic Drug, N-Bomb

St. Louis County police are warning parents and teens about a new sythentic drug called "N-Bomb" that is already responsible for deaths in several states. 

The name stems from its chemical composition, 2C-I-NBOMe or 25INBOMe, and police say it is a powerful hallucinogen that is a more potent and deadly derivative of mescaline. It has been reportedly responsible for fatal overdoses in California, North Dakota, Minnesota, Louisiana and Virginia. 

Police said the substance has been purchased undercover in the metro area by drug detectives. St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch said it's important for the public to be aware about the dangerous nature of this relatively new drug.

Timothy Whitney, of the Jefferson County Narcotics Task Force, said to his knowledge, the drug hasn't yet surfaced in Jefferson County.

"Typically we'll hear about these things from our sources on the street, but we haven't heard a thing," Whitney said. "Hopefully, it stays out of Jefferson County."

Police in Fenton also said the drug hasn't surfaced in town yet.

Effects of the drug are similar to LSD and include hallucinations, impairment of perception to sound and depth and uncontrollable body movements.

The statement from St. Louis County law enforcement was partly in response to a Chesterfield mother who said she believes her teenage daughter was offered N-Bomb at a New Year's Eve Party in Wildwood and nearly overdosed as a result. 

Sgt. Mark Whitson with the St. Louis County's Bureau of Drug Enforcement said his agency and its local and federal counterparts are working together to discover what they can about N-Bomb, but said it's relatively new to the area. 

It first surfaced in online references in 2010 and various state crime labs only started getting a hold of the substance in 2012. Several news reports linking deaths to N-Bomb have also appeared in the last few years. 

Whitson wouldn't confirm if the agency has any active investigations, but said county police and other law enforcement organizations will continue to share resources as they develop an approach on how to combat the synthetic substance. 

Fenton-High Ridge Editor Dan Barger contributed to this report.