BATAVIA, N.Y. -- As federal agencies continue to try and keep up with new synthetic drugs, Senator Charles Schumer singled out "Cloud 9," which he said sickened four Batavia students earlier this year.

Speaking Monday at Batavia High School, Schumer said that synthetic drug makers continue to come up with new combinations of chemicals after more than 20 substances were banned in 2012.

Schumer says those who manufacture these look alike drugs stay one step ahead of the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act. He says there are now some 300 varieties of synthetics that need to be added to the banned list.

Schumer said the Drug Enforcement Agency has identified around 300 unique synthetic drug chemicals, and now he's urging the DEA to act quickly and expand their banned list.

"If it's almost marijuana or almost ecstacy or almost cocaine and they switch a few molecules, you don't need legislation to make it a schedule one drug.  You can ban it," said Sen. Schumer, D-New York. "The problem is the DEA is moving much too slowly."

School leaders say some of these synthetics are ingested in restrooms through inhalers.  They say those using may offer some to an unexpecting student who most times doesn't know what he or she is taking.

"It turns into an emergency situation because we're forced to use the nurse and in some cases call the EMTs in to help us with the situations," said Batavia High School Principal Scott Wilson. "We don't know what we're really dealing with."

E-cigarettes is another common way of taking synthetic drugs. Schumer cited a case in Churchville-Chili in 2014, when two students were taken to the hospital after vaping a synthetic drug in an e-cigarette.

Vape pens or devices are easy to obtain and the affects can be inconsistant among users.

"Some kids might take a hit off of something and not see a huge affect where as another child might, and just because of the inconsistency with the chemicals that are in it that are applied to it," said Pam LaGrou, Genesee-Orleans County Council on Alcoholism & Substance Abuse.

Schumer says varieties of synthetic drugs will continue to emerge unless the DEA takes swift action in making all of them illegal.