Synthetic Marijuana Perfectly Legal or "Synthetic Substances 'Need To Be Controlled'

[Seil]

Link

(CNN) -- The latest trend at teen parties isn't warm beer or prescription medicines pilfered from parents' medicine cabinets. Instead, increasing numbers of youths are turning to an herb-based product to get high, and unlike marijuana, it's perfectly legal.

It's known as K2 or Spice, a synthetic substance that, when smoked, gives users a marijuana-like high, according to drug authorities. Its growing popularity is causing increasing alarm among health care professionals, law enforcement authorities and lawmakers, with one Drug Enforcement Agency official calling its use the equivalent of "playing Russian roulette."

Manufactured in Asia and sold online or in local stores, K2 and similar substances are marketed as herbal incense. A disclaimer on a K2-selling Web site reads: "K2Herbal products are novelty incenses and are not for consumption."

Sold in various flavors in 3-gram bags, the product consists of herbs that are sprayed with synthetic substances that mimic THC, the high-causing natural chemical found in marijuana.

A call to regulate K2

Health and drug officials say the danger in using such products is the unregulated nature of their production and makeup.

"Our biggest concern is that this particular chemical is likely manufactured in a dorm-room setting. And these dorm-room scientists are not going to be exhibiting a lot of quality assurance techniques," says Dr. Gaylord Lopez, a toxicologist and head of the Georgia Poison Center.

As a result, there's a potential for users to inhale contaminants along with the substance they think they're smoking, Lopez said, which may be a contributing factor in the adverse symptoms some of its users have been experiencing.

Political activist wants K2 banned

"Synthetic drugs and herbal drug products like Spice and K2 are not made in a controlled environment and thus you are playing Russian roulette when it comes to these types of products," said Dawn Dearden, a spokeswoman for the DEA, which first began receiving reports about abuse of the substance last year. "There is no way, outside of a controlled laboratory environment, to determine the chemical makeup, synthetic ingredients or amounts, and therefore there is no way to determine with any accuracy what the potentially harmful effects may be."
You are playing Russian roulette when it comes to these types of products.
--Dawn Dearden
RELATED TOPICS

* Marijuana
* U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
* Illegal Drugs

Lopez says his center first heard of the substance in December when Georgia hospitals began reporting patients who had used K2 or Spice.

Since then, the center has seen a spike in cases, with 20 people -- mostly teenagers -- visiting emergency rooms with such symptoms as heart palpitations and respiratory issues. In the most serious case, an otherwise healthy teenage boy, who has since recovered, lapsed into a coma, Lopez said.

According to Dearden, additional side effects can include panic attacks, hallucinations, delusions, vomiting, increased agitation and dilated pupils.

Around the center, Lopez said his employees have begun referring to the substance as "Scary Spice."

Earlier this month, Kansas became the first state to ban synthetic marijuana.

Kansas state Sen. Jim Barnett, a supporter of the effort, said the ban was prompted by reports of abuse of K2 and similar products in cities across the state among high school students and prison parolees who were using it as an alternative to pot to avoid a positive drug test.

Lawmakers in several other states are considering similar legislation, including Georgia, Utah, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Dakota and Illinois.

"Although it is a synthetic drug, it is still a drug with a high potential for abuse," says Barnett, who is a physician. "It was our desire in Kansas to be ahead of the problem."

K2 has already been banned in some European countries, including Britain, Germany, Poland and France, and the DEA lists it as a drug of concern in the United States.

"We are seeing several indications that these THC-like substances could become a significant problem both domestically and internationally," Dearden says.

She says the agency is in "the preliminary stages of determining whether or not some or all of (synthetic substances) need to be controlled."

What do you think about not just synthetic marijuana, but synthetic substances as a whole?

[The Wandering God]

I know I should type out an actual argument as to why this is stupid, but really, this image sums up my feelings pretty well.

Edit: To be perfectly clear here, I do think it's stupid to ingest lab made or artificial intoxicants. If it doesn't grow in the ground or move around on its own (or at least be largely derived from), then I don't want it in my body.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Making it illegal isn't going to stop teens from smoking it. No matter how much they want it to.

[Amake]

Well, LSD is my favorite drug* and that's largely impossible to grow naturally.

As for spice, I've heard from a guy who knows a lot of drug users, and all sources say it's "Just like pot, except legal". "Russian roulette" should imply that one in six who try it are killed, so I'm thinking that article is full of scare-mongering.

*Not that I do drugs, it's just fascinating to read about.

[Pip Boy]

Based on the article, I'd say that the "dorm room environment" that this stuff is being produced in is an assumption if not an outright fabrication. I can cook chicken in the safety of my own home, and when I'm done I'm fairly sure theres nothing in that chicken except chicken, breading, and-- wait, what is that? OHMIGOD RAT POISON! THEY WERE RIGHT!

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Originally Posted by The Wandering God

I
Edit: To be perfectly clear here, I do think it's stupid to ingest lab made or artificial intoxicants. If it doesn't grow in the ground or move around on its own (or at least be largely derived from), then I don't want it in my body.

Do you eat anything at all? Cause a good part of pretty much everything is loaded with lab chemicals.

This is such a nonsense position though. We have a very good handle on how food works, why trust whatever has evolved over years- partially randomly- for a designed artifice, targeted to be better for you.
Shit farmers have been doing it for the last few thousand years, through grafting, through pesticides and fertilisers, through selective breeding. Lab based methods use exactly the same principles but just do it properly and efficiently.

Originally Posted by Megaman FTW

Based on the article, I'd say that the "dorm room environment" that this stuff is being produced in is an assumption if not an outright fabrication. I can cook chicken in the safety of my own home, and when I'm done I'm fairly sure theres nothing in that chicken except chicken, breading, and-- wait, what is that? OHMIGOD RAT POISON! THEY WERE RIGHT!

Unless you reflux your chicken at several hundred degrees for days that is not a valid comparision.
That said, the biggest problem is these settings is not so much contaminants -though they can be harmful, depends on the method which I don't know here- it's inefficiacy.

[Jagos]

"Although it is a synthetic drug, it is still a drug with a high potential for abuse," says Barnett, who is a physician. "It was our desire in Kansas to be ahead of the problem."

Let's remember this about Kansas. There ain't a damn thing to do in the entire state except hill jumping and hope for a meteor or ET to show up at your door step.

Kansas hasn't wanted to face a problem since Prohibition. Regulation would work a lot better than a ban but they can't figure that out.

[Kim]

Hey, look, another problem that would be solved by legalizing marijuana... Congress, you fuckers need to get on that.

[Pip Boy]

Originally Posted by wikipedia.org/wiki/K2_(drug)

2 is a herbal smoking blend made of herbs and spices sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids (notably JWH-018), which mimic the effects of Marijuana. It is produced in China and Korea. It is rolled into a cigarette and smoked in a manner similar to marijuana.[1]

It is a product similar to Spice [2] and Pandora Potpourri [3]. K2 comes in many varieties with names such as Blonde, Summit, Pink, Blue, Standard, and Citron.[4] No studies have been done on its effects on humans.[5] Though its effects are not well documented, it may cause negative effects that are not noted in marijuana users, such as increased agitation and vomiting, among other things. [6]

It is legal and readily available throughout most of the United States. Its use has sparked alarm in several states including Kansas which has banned the sale and possession of its active chemicals. [7], and the town council of St. Charles, Missouri has passed emergency legislation banning its sale. [8] The US Army has banned soldiers' use.[9]

Haven't people in favor of the legalization of Marijuana been saying for years that the criminalization of marijuana only leads to people using more dangerous legal alternatives?

[Azisien]

Well there is a natural concern on the long term effects.


However I looked up for the chemical structure and then for more info on those chemicals and none of it seemed to be carcinogenic or toxic. We legalize stuff that is so SMOKE AWAY TEENS!