Upstate toxicologist Alexander Garrard and Syracuse Police Lt. John Corbett spoke about illegal drugs that are showing up in Central New York, on the weekly radio program, Health Link on Air.

Many of the substances causing problems are marketed as legal -- including herbal incense and bath salts sold in tobacco shops-- but used in ways that can be dangerous. Users may experience headaches and sinus inflammation, or something more severe, including seizures, heart attack, delusions or stroke. Drugs such as PCP (also known as angel dust or water) can produce severe agitation, its users turning violent.

Drugs sold on the street are adulterated, and some of the substances that are mixed with the drugs can cause problems of their own. Syracuse has recently seen batches of heroin laced with strychnine, a poison that can be deadly.

Learn more:

Erowid.com documents "the complex relationship between humans and psychoactives."

Hear the Health Link on Air interview featuring Garrard and Corbett.