WEDNESDAY AUGUST 7, 2016 VOLUME 106 ISSUE 4 www.UniversityStar.com
Deadly K2 soars in popularity among college students
By VANESSA BELL Lifestyle Reporter @vanessayvebell The use of K2, otherwise known as synthetic marijuana, is causing an uproar as it is life-threatening and addictive. Synthetic marijuana is a blend of industrial chemicals sprayed on plant material and mixed with red and brown dyes to make it a replica of natural marijuana. Weighted lifetime prevalence of K2 and Spice use at college entry was 7.6%. An additional 6.6% of students reported first use during college. By the cohort’s fourth year, 17.0% reported lifetime K2, according to a study done by the National
Institutes of Health. K2, also known as Spice, is marketed under various alias names such as Scooby Snax and Black Mamba. Synthetic marijuana can sell for around $50 an ounce online or $10 at a gas station, increasing its popularity among adolescences and the homeless. They are sold in colored packages with images of cartoon characters or with the name of the synthetic drug. The packages openly state “not for human consumption,” although that is exactly what users intend to do when they purchase the synthetic drug. In recent years, there has been an outlaw of chemi-
cals used to make K2. The drugs come from China and are sold to the U.S in bulk containers, making it more difficult for the federal government to put a stop to it. Although the chemicals in synthetic marijuana are similar to cannabinoids (CBD) in natural marijuana, they both contain tetrahydrocannabinol. (THC) They affect brain receptors differently, which makes synthetic weed hazardous. Some synthetic CBDs are more potent than THC and operate on other brain receptors. Some people who receive the drug without its marketing label mistake it for natural marijuana and are unaware of the side effects
that can occur after consumption. According to one anonymous user, they can automatically tell the difference between natural synthetic marijuana after smoking. “I took one hit from whatever I was smoking,” an anonymous user said. “I thought it was regular weed. After I took one hit, I was super high and I knew that something was wrong because I smoke a lot and one hit won’t affect me like it did.” Instead of experiencing an increased appetite or a sense of relaxation like some might experience with marijuana, K2 users experience psychotic episodes, seizures and hallucinations.
“It was like I was hallucinating and then I started seeing the people as cartoons and I knew that these weren’t the effects of regular weed,” the anonymous user said. “So, I just knew that I had smoked something more than that.” One anonymous user said their body felt as if it was deceasing, and similar experiences have resulted in users’ suicides. “My body was completely numb,” the anonymous user said. “I was completely paralyzed. My senses, my body, my eyes—everything was just completely shut off.” An anonymous user said they ended up in the hospital after mistakenly smoking
UNIVERSITY
LGBTQIA
Construction to begin on University Events Center By BRI WATKINS Assistant News Editor @briwatkins17
Students pose last fall at San Marcos City Park during the second annual Pride Fest.
STAR FILE PHOTO
‘Louder and prouder’: SMTX Pride week marks third year By JERILYNN THORPE Senior News Reporter @jerilynnthorpe After the tragic event of the Pulse nightclub shooting, San Marcos will celebrate Pride with the LGBTQIA community from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 at the San Marcos Park Plaza. The event will feature a parade, live music, food, art vendors and drag shows. The Pride Festival will celebrate its third year of unifying the community to take a positive stance against discrimination and violence toward the LGBTQIA community. Sylvia Sandoval Hernandez, SMTX Pride organizer, said this year’s event will be bigger than ever because of the Orlando shooting. “Especially San Marcos, right in between San Antonio and Austin, this is the middle of the pot that we can bring everybody together,” Hernandez said. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Come and celebrate equality and civil rights. This year we have to remind everybody that regardless of gender, sexuality or color, we’ve got to go strong and unite as one.” Hernandez said there will be two sets of security at the event, and though there
K2. “They never told me exactly what type of weed it was,” the anonymous user said. “After I told my other friends how I was feeling, they were like, ‘oh dude, you’re on spice.’” The user who ended up in the hospital said a friend would battle what he called “demons” during his experience with K2. “I don’t want to talk to [him] again,” the anonymous user said. “That stuff messes people up really bad.”
may be some protestors, the safety of attendees will be a priority. Chris Rue, general manager of Stonewall Warehouse—the first and only LGBTQIA bar in San Marcos—said the idea of persecution against their community or any other minority isn’t anything new. “What’s new is the idea that, in America, you can’t go out on a Saturday night and have fun just by dancing,” Rue said. “You know you have a target on your back.” In response to the shooting in Orlando, Rue and his employees have been trained by the University Police Department to take appropriate action if the bar ever encounters an active shooter. Rue said the UPD and San Marcos Police Department have been phenomenal. Officer Sue Taylor and Officer Otto Glenewinkel of the UPD reached out to the community and Stonewall to educate people on precautions to take during circumstances similar to the Pulse nightclub shooting. For Taylor, she refers to her position as “interesting”— identifying herself as lesbian as well as police officer. “I do understand their feelings of helplessness,” Taylor said. “As a police of-
ficer though, I’m trained to respond. Things like this just click into place. It’s interesting when you’re a part of a community and something like this happens. Even though it’s in Florida and not Texas, the feeling kind of resonates that it could easily happen here.” The “what if ’s” are not something Rue and Hernandez rule their lives by. Hernandez said many times people warn her of attending certain places for fear of violence, but the community cannot just hide or stop living. Rue said he will not create an army or militia within Stonewall. “We aren’t going to bring the idea that someone wants a warzone,” Rue said. “We are still going to be loud and proud, but we know we are going to be on the forefront of security. The Pulse nightclub, if nothing else, he who should not be mentioned, he brought us together. He brought the nation together. If he wanted to silence us—honey, that’s the wrong group to go after. We are just going to get louder and prouder. We are Pulse. We are Orlando.” For more information, visit the SMTX PRIDE Facebook page.
In order to provide appropriate facilities to maintain student growth, the Texas State University Board of Regents approved a $62.5 million construction project of a University Events Center to fulfill student needs. The construction for the project will begin in November 2016, and it will include additional space for Strahan Coliseum, said Thomas Shewan, associate vice president for facilities at Texas State. The UEC will expand an additional 81,000 gross square feet and add 1,748 seats to the complex for multi-use purposes including Commencement ceremonies, Convocations and athletic events. “With the additional space, there should be more room for students and families during major events,” Shewan said. “The university desperately needs additional space for Commencement and Convocation. The additional 1,748 seats will address some of this need.” This project will also assess increased space for athletic locker rooms and offices, and provide additional parking. With major ceremonies, events and current athletic offices being relocated from Jowers Center to the UEC, Jowers will be used for academic purposes only. This specific project is being funded by Athletic’s Department Reserves and Higher Education Funds and is expected to cost $62.5 million. The Denver-based architect firm, Sink Combs Dethlefs, are the designers of the UEC. The development for the project was submitted for approval by the Board of Regents in Aug., and the project was approved by the board in the Aug. 18 System meeting.
The UEC project is expected to be completed by October 2018. Shewan said his hopes for this project will be improved Commencement, Convocation and Athletic experience, as well as enhance campus community pride. With Texas State’s rapid growth, the expansion of the UEC will provide more more space and support to the student population and help sustain student growth,
‘The university desperately needs additional space for Commencement and Convocation.’ Shewan said. According to Texas State’s University Marketing statistics, Texas State is ranked the fourth largest university in Texas with nearly 38,000 students recorded for the fall year of 2015. “Maintaining the University’s facilities is fundamental to providing a sustainable future,” Shewan said. “The lowest resource impact can only be accomplished with proper maintenance.” The university is in the process of projecting other facilities and developments all around campus. The UEC project is only one of the many projects that are being created to improve the university to complement the collegiate experience. Several of the university projects are in different stages of development, and altogether combined, represent over $659 million in current and future investment.