U.S. Moves to Outlaw Synthetic Marijuana

Cracking down on fake pot, the government moved Wednesday to outlaw five chemicals used in herbal blends to make the synthetic marijuana sold in head shops and on the Internet to a growing number of teens and young adults.

Responding to the latest designer drug fad, the Drug Enforcement Administration began the 30-day process to put these chemicals in the same drug category as heroin and cocaine. The agency acted after receiving increasing reports about these products since 2009 from poison centers, hospitals and law enforcement agencies.

The five chemicals mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and aren't approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human consumption.

DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno said makers of fake pot blends including "Spice," "K2," "Blaze," and "Red X Dawn," label the mixtures as incense to try to hide their intended purpose.

But ultimately, Carreno said, the blends are smoked like real marijuana to produce a high and are making users across the country sick.

The DEA action, posted in the Federal Register, would outlaw the five chemicals 30 days from now "to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety." Fifteen states have already acted to ban or regulate one or more of these chemicals.

Crowdsourcing the Price of Marijuana

The DEA said it first became aware of these new designer drugs in November 2008 when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency analyzed "Spice."

As of Sept. 27, the American Association of Poison Control Centers has reported receiving more than 1,500 calls from 48 states and the District of Columbia about products spiked with these drugs, the DEA said.

John W. Huffman, a retired organic chemistry researcher from Clemson University, first developed three of soon-to-be-banned compounds as part of his research sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 1993. He said Wednesday the chemicals were never intended to be used by people.

Huffman said the compounds were developed to study how compounds that mimic THC but have very different chemical formulas interact with the brain. Huffman said they were only tested in animals.

"They are dangerous and anyone who uses them is stupid," Huffman said in a telephone interview from his Sylva, N.C., home.

Huffman said there have been reports of overdoses, suicides, hallucinations, seizures and cases of addiction.

[ashbash584]

It is absurd that marijuana is still pretty much illegal in this day and age. Now they are chasing down this K2 herbal incense stuff. Where will it end?? It won't. Do you know why? It's a never ending freaking cycle! There are constantly new formulations of K2 incense coming out to get around these ridiculous bans which are trying to get around the ban on marijuana in the first place. Why do we have to be up in each other's business? This is supposed to be the land of the free and it is hardly that! If someone wants to buy k2 they will. After all the effort they have been putting into banning this stuff, http://www.k2-incense.com is still able to offer legal k2 incense products. I told you. Wasted money. Wasted efforts.

[010sonny]

You are up against the cartel's lobbyist and the vast wealth of a predatory incarcerating judicial system. For quick result have them legalize it or demand closing of incarceration centers instead of education.

[ashbash584]

It is absurd that marijuana is still pretty much illegal in this day and age. Now they are chasing down this K2 herbal incense stuff. Where will it end?? It won't. Do you know why? It's a never ending freaking cycle! There are constantly new formulations of K2 incense coming out to get around these ridiculous bans which are trying to get around the ban on marijuana in the first place. Why do we have to be up in each other's business? This is supposed to be the land of the free and it is hardly that! If someone wants to buy k2 they will. After all the effort they have been putting into banning this stuff, http://www.k2-incense.com is still able to offer legal k2 incense products. I told you. Wasted money. Wasted efforts.

[documemts]

US moves to outlaw banana peels. Users claim they get higher with them and their pusher down at the market sells them by the
"bunch". Also, when they get the munchies there's the banana's right there. OMG! Everybody knows that bananas are imported into this country. We must stop this foreign substance from entering our sacred homeland!

[fishcreekbob]

Scientific trials have for decades documented the anti-cancer properties of cannabis and its constituents. Yet it took until this week for the website of the National Institute of Cancer, a component of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health, to finally acknowledged the herb's therapeutic utility for patients living with disease or suffering from the adverse side-effects of cancer treatment.

In a newly added section to the website, entitled 'Cannabis and Cannabinoids,' the Institute states:

Cannabinoids may cause antitumor effects by various mechanisms, including induction of cell death, inhibition of cell growth, and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death."

?The potential benefits of medicinal cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect."

It's a stunning acknowledgment, given that the NIH is a branch of the very same government that presently maintains that the cannabis plant and all of its naturally-derived components have 'no accepted medical use.' Yet it also begs the question: Where has the National Institute of Cancer been all these years?

After all, the anti-tumor activity of cannabinoids were initially documented in 1975! That's right; it's taken 36 years for the Institute to get with the program.

Hopefully it won't take them another 36 years to demand that the Feds finally assess whether these preclinical results are replicable in human trials.

Tags: cancer, National Institute of Cancer, national institutes of health, NIH, tumors

[ky7474]

Can't believe this article is still the most resent in this section. Where is the journalism, the invesigative reporting, finding the truth at all cost. This synthetic crap wouldn't be an issue if the real, natural, and very useful plant or substance [cannabis] were legal. Real jounalists would expose the corruption and bring all the truth to light.

[010sonny]

What we need here is Julian of Wikileak. He would get the investigating done and then some.

[Rodeo_Joe]

Alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, according to a new study.

British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.

But Alcohol has the Lobbyists.

[tsigili]

Perhaps, it makes sense to quarantine teenagers, in boot camps, until they get over the "crazed" teenage years, where they cannot get to drugs, alcohol, and other substances, which they can then abuse.

Especially since most parents seem incapable of controlling their kids.

[olbabee]

You know you have had this story up for about 3 months or more. Can't you find something else to report about? It's not like there is nothing going on here in the U.S. that warrants a story. I did mention the U.S. There are no stories in Europe that ever worth mentioning.
If people want to get a buzz from something regardless of what it is, who's business is it but their own? Jesus give it s rest & take this story & picture down.

[kansas1946]

I have a better idea. It would save a lot of time. Let's just make everything illegal. Anytime, anyone does anything, we can throw them in jail. After all, our prisons have plenty of room that is being wasted. We need to get them full. I think we may be running second on the percentage of citizens in jail or prision and I demand that America be first.

[010sonny]

Alchol Companies would prefer that we continue with their brew of poision.They will seek to destroy the healing powers of a simple herb.Guess who in the government agrees that poisons are prefered to the populace. More monies to be made with incarcerations and corruptive agendas that are produced through alchol merchants of death..Seek them out and vote them out...