Mother says her son was smoking synthetic drugs before he died

It's a mother's worst nightmare – hearing a knock at your door to find troopers standing there, waiting to tell you your only son has died in a car crash. That's exactly what happened to one Grimesland woman last week and now she's opening up for the first time. Serena Holt remembers the final phone call from her only son, Patrick Ham. "He said, ‘Okay, Mama.’ I said, ‘I love you, Pat.’ He said, ‘I love you, too, Mom.’ And that was the last time I talked to him." Investigators say the 20-year-old was speeding when his Jeep hit a tree, flipped and caught fire.

They say he died on impact. "I was upset,” Holt says. “I was mad. I wanted to tear something up. I wanted to cry. But, none of the emotions would come out. I kept telling them to pinch me and wake me up because it wasn't real. Patrick was going to come home but he never did.” The medical examiner's report is not complete yet, but investigators say they've been able to piece together what likely happened. "We were able to determine that the victim had used legal Spice, which is synthetic cannabinoids, during the day and prior to the crash," says Highway Patrolman Steven Ziemba. Spice, also known as K2 or Kush, is a synthetic drug that's often marketed as incense. When smoked, its effects are similar to marijuana such as paranoia, panic attacks and giddiness.

 The drug was outlawed in North Carolina last year, but investigators say Ham used a new, legal version of it the day he died. "The manufacturers tweaked it,” says Holt, “put a couple of different chemical compounds on it and put it back on the shelf. That's what took my baby away from me." Holt says a friend of Ham's confirmed they had been smoking Spice all afternoon. "There was no evidence of him hitting his breaks,” Holt says. So we're thinking maybe that, he blacked out." "I couldn't see him afterwards,” she says. “They wouldn't allow me, so i couldn't say my goodbyes. And it's heartbreaking…it’s heartbreaking." Spice is easy to get.

Tobacco shops sell it and with one quick Google search, I found multiple websites selling the drug for about $20. Alcohol Law Enforcement agents I talked with say the drug is popular because it's undetectable in drug tests. They say the new version doesn’t contain the illegal compounds, so they can’t arrest anyone for buying it. They say right now, the most law enforcement could do is arrest someone for inhaling the drug’s toxic vapors under the state’s inhalant statute. But they would actually have to see someone smoking it.

Now Holt is determined to spread the word about a synthetic drug that she says led to her son's death. And she wants other parents to know the harmful effects it can have. "It's just not right,” she says. “And my son would want me sitting right here, talking to you. If he had known what it was going to do to him, this is what he would want me to do. He would want it off the market. He would want his friends to know not to smoke it."