An Effingham County woman was arrested Monday evening on charges she provided the synthetic drug “spice” to a minor, who then became violently ill.
Tiffany Dayson, 22, of Springfield gave a 16-year-old male acquaintance spice as they were riding on a golf cart at a home on Walter Samuels Road in Rincon, according to Effingham County Sheriff’s Office investigators.
“The juvenile then became ill, threw himself off of the golf cart, began hitting himself, and then became unconscious,” said ECSO spokesman Detective David Ehsanipoor.
The teenager was taken to the hospital and he is expected to recover, according to Ehsanipoor.
Dayson was charged with cruelty to children and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She is being held in the Effingham County Jail.
“She claimed she got (the spice) from somewhere in Pooler,” Ehsanipoor said, adding he had no additional information about where or from whom Dayson purchased it.
Buying and selling the synthetic marijuana is illegal in Georgia, under a law passed by state legislators in 2012. Georgia classifies spice as a Schedule I substance, the same designation as drugs such as heroin, LSD and marijuana.
Law enforcement agencies removed spice from retail outlets after the law went into effect, but new formulations of spice with different chemical formulas began appearing almost immediately throughout the state. In response, the General Assembly approved legislation last year expanding the list of substances considered illegal in Georgia.
“We haven’t really seen too much of (spice) around here lately,” Ehsanipoor said.