The state attorney general’s office on Wednesday sent out a warning about a new and potentially deadly hallucinogen that is making its way into Ohio.

The designer drug is called smiles “because supposedly it makes you smile, but it also makes you go crazy,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told News Center 7’s Yuna Lee.

Smiles is the street name for 2-C-I, often sold in pill or powder form.

Smiles is gaining popularity with teenagers and young adults on the West Coast, and law enforcement officials in Ohio have seen at least 12 cases involving the drug make their way to crime labs across the state, DeWine’s office said.

“It can have devastating impact on the person who takes it; We’ve seen examples nationwide of people who have killed other people after they took it,” DeWine said.

Travis Worst, a forensic scientist, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said smiles is similar in its basic chemical structure to methamphetamine.

“This is likely just the beginning,” Worst said of the designer drug being seen in the Buckeye state. “Now that the bath salts class of drugs is getting more scrutiny, they’re moving to other drugs to fill the gap.”

Word about smiles comes on the same day DeWine’s office announced new, tighter and more intense enforcement efforts in Ohio’s fight against synthetic drugs.

DeWine said those who make and distribute synthetic drugs such as spice and bath salts are changing chemical components in banned drugs to circumvent current law.

“We’re really going after them and I’ve got agents who are just dying to get out there,” he said.