Synthetic marijuana has reportedly required at least 21 people to be treated at hospitals in St. Petersburg, Florida since March 17, Thursday based on a police report. The police department in the Tampa Bay area received several calls by the weekend that people might have overdosed on the fake marijuana "Spice" during the past few days, and suffered reactions such as vomiting, seizures, and unconsciousness.

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Police spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez shared that people had various types of reactions to the fake cannabis that were signs of Spice overdose. However, they did not result in any deaths, according to Tampa Bay Times.  

Lab test results will help to reveal if the substance that caused the severe illnesses was in fact Spice. However, Hernandez said that similar reports have been made in other Florida counties and could be connected to a new batch of Spice that is now showing up in the Tampa Bay region.  

Synthetic pot is a cornucopia of many chemicals and is developed to be another option besides real weed. However, Fernandez explained that Spice is not like marijuana because the products that people buy can be different.

President Barack Obama signed a bill in 2012 that banned particular types of synthetic drugs. However, law-makers and law enforcement have had problems fighting Spice in cities including Tampa.

Fernandez explains that a big problem is that only certain chemical mixtures can be banned. Spice makers can then just add or remove a chemical to avoid the bans, but make the product more dangerous at the same time.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reports that Florida had the third-highest number of Spice-related calls made to poison centers in January and February. Only New York and Texas received more calls.  

In related news a study published last month in JAMA Psychiatry showed that marijuana use by adults does not make people anxious or depressed, according to The Washington Post. The study included medical records of almost 35,000 United States adults who participated in a national survey.

Researchers compared the volunteers' marijuana use in 2001 and 2002 to rates of mental health problems in 2004 and 2005. Cannabis was not linked to anxiety and mood disorders.

Here an explanation of Spice "fake marijuana":