Hospitalized teen: Don't smoke spice

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - 17-year old Mychael Banks says she thought she’d found a way to get a safe high.

“What I was told before I actually started smoking the drug (was) that it was like marijuana but it can't show up in your system,” she said.

But shortly after smoking a product she claims she purchased from an Indianapolis gas station convenience store, she ended up in the critical care unit at IU Health Methodist Hospital.

“I actually thought I was going to die,” she said.

Banks says it began Tuesday afternoon when she walked into the store and approached the cashier.

"I walked in by myself and asked if they sold K2 spice and then he looked at me like 'no we don’t.' Then he said ‘hold on wait.’ And I walked back to him and he took it from the side and handed it to me. He was like 'shhh.'”

She said the package was labeled, “not for human consumption.” But Banks said the cashier told her it was OK.

Minutes after Banks and several others began smoking it, Banks says she began to feel dizzy.

“My skin started feeling really light and tingly,” she said.

Then came convulsions, she says.

Someone called 911.

Medics arrived and transported her to IU Health Methodist Hospital where she spent the night in the Critical Care Unit.

An I-Team-8 hidden camera investigation prompted a tougher state law banning synthetic drugs like spice.

Part of that law gives the state the ability to go after retailers: their license, store clerks, and owners.

But, as Banks says she found out, the law hasn't stopped everyone.

“I felt like my story needed to get out ‘cause I know there's more kids that do it," she said. "Don't smoke it. Don't smoke anything!"

Family members say Indianapolis Metropolitan Police are investigating and testing the substance Banks says she smoked. A spokesperson for the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office says they’re also looking into it.

Banks was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.