"Smiles" drug implicated in actor's death: What are they?

(CBS News) Johnny Lewis, the "Sons of Anarchy" actor who allegedly killed his landlady before falling to his death, may have been having mental health problems and using drugs.

Sources tell the Los Angeles Times that detectives believe Lewis may have been on a synthetic drug known as 2C-I or "smiles" at the time of his death, according to CBS News Crimesider.

Lewis' cause of death is pending toxicology results, the city's Coroner said Thursday evening. Davis died from blunt head trauma and manual strangulation, he said.

"Smiles," or 2C-1, are part of a class of drugs known as phenethylamines. Drugs in the 2C family are "basically just amphetamines," Dr. Lewis S. Nelson, professor of emergency medicine in the division of medical toxicology at NYU Langone School of Medicine in New York City, explained to CBSNews.com.

• Johnny Lewis, "Sons of Anarchy" TV show actor, allegedly kills landlady then dies in fall
• Synthetic "bath salts" plague police, doctors

According to Nelson, the amphetamine molecule contains a ring and a side chain. In the case of methamphetamine or crystal meth for example, amphetamine contains a "methyl" side chain. With 2C compounds, chemists make different substitutions on the rings and add a halogen (think back to a chemistry class periodic table: compounds like chlorine, fluorine, etc.), in this case Iodine.

By making these chemical changes, the amphetamine compound gains different effects. While typical amphetamine would cause a "speedy" feeling of high blood pressure, increased heart rate and sweating, the substitutions that make 2C-I create an amphetamine with more euphoric, psychedelic and introspective effects.

MDMA or Ectsasy is made similarly, by adding methylenedioxy to an amphetamine backbone.

"Chemically, they are all very similar drugs," Nelson said. "But by adding the different groups, you change drug's property."

The National Institute on Drug Abuse says 2C drugs have been on the illicit drug market since 1998. Because they are amphetamine-based, they are "Schedule I" controlled substances, considered illegal.

LiveScience reports "smiles" are often mixed with a substance like chocolate before eating. Side effects include auditory and visual hallucinations, and feelings of giddiness and empathy.

The problem, said Nelson, is whoever is making these drugs in an illegal lab has no means of quality control, and the drugs could contain different dosages and properties that cause potentially dangerous side effects. It can contain the expected drug, a different drug or no drug at all, he said.

He likens the process of how "smiles" are made to that of another designer drug, "bath salts," which have an amphetamine-like compound but may contain unknown chemicals.

"Substituted amphetamine can produce adverse effects such as heart attacks and strokes, even at low doses," Nelson said. "You ideally want to have a clean, safe high, but often you get very confused, altered and your decision-making is flawed."

LiveScience reports "smiles" were implicated in the deaths of two teenagers from East Grand Forks, North Dakota. One 18-year-old was found dead and then the following day, a 17-year-old took 2C-I and began hyperventiliating, hitting his head against the ground and stopped breathing several hours later. Following the deaths, police in the area warned about a possibly tainted batch.

[DaydreamJohnny]

Thank god 2C-I was scheduled over the summer so that people wouldn't take it and kill old ladies and jump off of buildings!

Oh wait...

1. Most of this article's description of the drug itself is actually misinformation, and "Phearmonger" above is much closer to the truth.

2. He had the drug, even though it has been illegal for some months. How is that even possible?? (Clearly that legislation is working wonders).

3. I have taken 2C-I, I know many people who have also. It is not a drug that induces madness. Either it wasn't 2C-I, or more likely, the guy had some serious mental issues to begin with. Remember the bath salts guy who ate that other guy's face? Well he wasn't actually on bath salts. Some people are just crazy, and the tiniest thing could push them over the edge, but it's important to identify the real problem.

[pHearmonger]

Let's get something straight: these 2C drugs are most certainly NOT amphetamines, nor are they "amphetamine-based". 2C-I has been around since 1998, but has only been made illegal this past June. It was classified as a "Schedule I" controlled substance, but this has no connection to amphetamines which are Schedule II. The word "amphetamine" comes from its chemical name: AlphaMethylPHenEThylAMINE. These can be one of hundreds of analogs, but all derivatives share a basic backbone that is an alpha methylated phenethylamine. 2C-I, like other 2C drugs, is not a methylated phenethylamine and cannot be considered analogous, let alone "basically just amphetamines". Accordingly, the effects of the two are grossly dissimilar. Amphetamine is a stimulant used for the ADHD medication Adderall, while 2C-I is a psychedelic comparable to LSD. In terms of chemical makeup, the difference is huge: 2C's are more closely related to the chemicals in chocolate than they are to amphetamines. If you're trying to compare something to amphetamines, look no further than those "bath salt" blends. Those are chock-full of amphetamine derivatives and who knows what else.

End of the chemistry lesson, all of this information is readily available online! Do the world a favor and DO YOUR HOMEWORKS.

[bobbychuckles]

This sounds like total bull to me.
A fall and strangulation equals an overdose?
Only to another ghoulish Thomas Noguchi clone.

[midwestking13]

no.. a fall, strangulation, does not equal overdose. the entire story may help you. he allegedly strangled and beat his 81 year old landlady to death. during the struggle, her neighbors could hear her screaming.. they saw a man fleeing the scene..tried to stop him, but he fled to the roof. these witnesses said he seemed to have super human strength and seemed to be foaming at the mouth. also, he dismembered her cat. like others... it does seem that he was under the influence of something. dont you think?

[pHearmonger]

So here we find a man with a history of mental illness who has recently undergone a psychotic break. Where do the drugs come in? Just because he was "foaming at the mouth" and possessed "superhuman strength"? Have you ever seen someone in the throws of psychosis? These actions are not carried out by sane individuals, this man was clearly deeply disturbed and if anything drug use was a symptom rather than the explanation. Disregarding that, there has been no tox screen, so until then we have no reason to believe drugs were involved (let alone 2C-I of all things).

[tengent]

I am utterly confused on why 2C-I out of all compounds has been singled out as a cause. It's just ignorance. What implies he ate an uncommon PSYCHEDELIC drug, or a drug at all? Any new drugs causing problems must be just like bath salts.

sigh

[ScientologySon]

What brought Johnny to this point? Could it be his childhood in an abusive brainwashing cult called Scientology? No I am sure it was the drug. No other Scientology followers have ever done anything like this before.

[barnettster]

Yes, you have a country that gives no one an opportunity and yet expect them to be law biding citizens.

And then when it hits the front page you ask why.

It's land of the FEE and home of the GRAVES and I'm glad to be an aMERICAN.

You do the math.

[lifeduringwartime]

Wow, I am at a loss. Only you can hold yourself back, barnettster. If you are going nowhere try something else and never give up!

[hypnotoad72]

As a glib generalization, I can see where that might make sense in a number of contexts...

But I'm missing something; this actor got goofed up on mind-altering drugs and killed someone. Was he getting high as means of escapism?

Was he really that poorly paid for what is apparently a successful television show? I'd bet he gets paid more than DBAs, programmers, support staff, and other such workers - who also have to use their brains a lot...

[ObscureStar]

Tox report isn't in but we're just going to blame some random drug and ignore the mental illness entirely.

Right then. Carry on with the top-notch reporting.

[tengent]

Thank you..