'Catnip Cocktail' linked to bizarre, irrational behavior on the rise in NJ, police say

"Catnip Cocktail" is a drug used to sedate animals that can make humans act irrationally and unable to answer simple questions, but it's not illegal.

Fairfield police encountered the product in New Jersey last week when they raided the Nutrition Zone store on Route 46. They found 61 bottles of Catnip Cocktail for sale.

John Sirico of Tafton, Pennsylvania, faces drug offenses and weapons charges, borough Police Chief Anthony Manna said in a statement. Bottles of human growth hormones, seven handguns and rifle magazines were discovered in the store.

Catnip Cocktail is a liquid drug used to sedate cats and is not intended for human consumption, borough police said. When the drug is used by humans, it’s similar to Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB,) which is known as the “date rape” drug. People who used the drug have been found incoherent by police.

"This is a very dangerous product, and it appears its improper use is on the rise," Manna said in a statement.

In late February, Fairfield police revived a man outside a Retro Fitness on Route 46 using Narcan, the overdose-reversing nasal spray. When the man was sent to a hospital, he was found with a bottle of Catnip Cocktail.

In North Jersey, authorities have encountered people possessing Catnip Cocktail for consumption going back nearly two years. Police in Hanover arrested two men with several bottles of Catnip Cocktail and told police they didn't have any animals.   

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Fairfield police learned of the drug’s side effects last summer when a man was found dancing and yelling near the Nutrition Zone store on Route 46 and exhibiting mood swings.

In November, borough police said they stopped a 40-year-old man from Kenilworth who, after being found driving erratically, was “extremely confused, totally unaware of his surroundings and unable to answer simple questions.”

After being taken into custody, the man was cursing and screaming in a high-pitched voice, Fairfield police said. The man was charged with driving under the influence but not drug possession.

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“Because this product is not yet listed as a controlled dangerous substance, the Prosecutor’s Office has not been able to authorize criminal charges for either its possession or use,” Manna said after the arrest in November. “We are making the public aware of the increased misuse of this extremely dangerous product to hopefully curtail others from doing it.”

In January, police in Wayne charged a man who told them he was drinking a bottle of Catnip Cocktail. In that instance, when the man was stopped for driving fast near Route 23 and Packanack Lake Road, NBC New York reports, the suspect told police he made the passenger hold the bottle, marked “not used for human consumption.”

Like the several arrests police in North Jersey have made, the suspect was not charged with drug possession.