A drug marketed as an alternative to LSD or mescaline could be among the most powerful and potentially deadly of the synthetic drugs that have inundated the market in recent years, police and physicians believe.

A 19-year-old from the West Valley was in a medically induced coma for four days after taking the drug, a synthetic hallucinogen known as "n-bomb," and would have died if he had not received treatment when he did, according to a physician.

Scottsdale police are investigating whether the deaths this year of two 18-year-olds are linked to the drug.

"That is certainly a possibility, based on what witnesses are telling us — that either this drug is involved, some variant of that," said Sgt. Mark Clark, a Scottsdale (Ariz.) PD spokesman. "Certainly, when anyone becomes deceased from a possibility of any of these new drugs that are out there, we are obviously concerned."

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