ST. LOUIS COUNTY • Police here are warning of a new hallucinogenic drug that has begun circulating the St. Louis area.
The synthetic drug, known as “N-Bomb” or “Smiles,” looks and acts like LSD and has been linked to deaths in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia, police say. The N-Bomb name stems from the drug’s chemical composition, 2C-1-NBOMe or 251NBOMe. The drug is derived from mescaline.

St. Louis County police say undercover drug officers have reported purchasing the drug recently. Police say N-Bomb is dangerous, growing in popularity, and for now, perfectly legal.

“It’s an extremely potent, hallucinogenic drug that can create violent, uncontrollable, psychotic episodes in people,” said James Shroba, special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration in St. Louis.

Unlike other popular synthetic substances that have been banned recently, such as K2 or Spice found mostly in smoke shops and gas stations, N-Bomb is sold on the Internet primarily from China, Shroba said. It’s ordered by mail in powder form, liquefied and absorbed into blotter paper, like LSD.

The drug’s effects, too, are similar to LSD, and it can be absorbed through the skin, Shroba said.

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