Florida just issued a statewide warning to parents that their kids may start snorting flakka this summer

Since we last wrote about flakka, a man was arrested by police for beating a woman and holding her captive after they smoked the drug together, and police shot and killed a man suspected of being on flakka after taking a woman hostage (it’s also now been written up in the New York Times).

Which is why we find it slightly odd that on Thursday, Florida Attorney General issued a statewide warning to parents about keeping flakka away from their children.

“As many public schools close for summer break this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi is warning parents about the danger of Flakka, a synthetic drug that can be purchased online and is growing in popularity in Florida,” the warning reads.

As you can tell from the incidents mentioned earlier, and as we’ve previously reported: the heaviest flakka users, at least so far, have been adults in mostly low-income neighborhoods, not kids.

As a result, Bondi’s release almost reads more like an instructional manual for a kid looking to get into flakka.

Here’s the section showing what flakka looks like:

And how to use it:

This is not to say that young people aren’t using it. As Bondi points out, a 17-year-old girl on flakka was recently arrested by police after she came running toward officer bloody, naked, and screaming she was Satan. And as Bondi says, it is suspected as the cause of death of a Florida concert goer in 2014.

Still, it is clear flakka is hardly a gateway drug given its most common symptom is violent hallucinations.

You can read the full release here »

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.