Santa Cruz County Sheriff's warn of harmful LSD

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KGO) -- The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office has a warning for young people. They're seeing a disturbing trend involving a dangerous drug.

RELATED: Santa Cruz deputy on leave after shooting 15-year-old on LSD

On Nov. 19, 15-year-old Luke Smith was on LSD when he attacked his dad and uncle with a knife. He was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy.

The sheriff's office says there have been four incidents involving LSD in the four weeks since Smith was killed.

A CHP officer fought with a man on LSD on Highway 17. A girl was taken to the hospital and nearly died after ingesting liquid LSD on a Popsicle. A young man, who was a passenger in a car, almost caused a crash then took off into the woods on a cold night.

Police say fifth incident happened with a man on Monday. "Had a reaction to supposedly taking LSD and his brother ended up having to restrain him until we got there," said Sgt. Chris Clark of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.

In an unusual move the office sent a letter to the superintendent of the Santa Cruz Office of Education asking for help.

"As an office you want to get this information out there," Clark told ABC7 News. "It seems like a trend to us. You don't know how this stuff might affect you."

A mother of two high school students says she already talks to her kids about drugs. "You could be in a car with somebody that's done something that could end up killing you," said Ellianna Javed. "Killing them, killing somebody else--devastating you guys for the rest of your life."

The sheriff's office is looking into testing some LSD to determine if a bad batch is circulating in the area.