Places race to outlaw K2 'Spice' drug

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today

Nearly a dozen states and several cities are banning or debating bans on K2 — a packet of herbs coated with a synthetic chemical that mimics a marijuana high when it's smoked — amid fears that its use is spreading among young people.

K2, also known as "Spice," is sold online, in convenience stores and in herbal or spiritual shops, and is usually marketed as incense. The herbs, which sell for as much as $35 an ounce, have emerged as a popular, legal alternative to marijuana among teenagers and college students.

Clemson University chemist John Huffman, a research professor whose graduate students synthesized the substance in his lab 15 years ago, says the chemical may be harmful. "It shouldn't be out there," he says.

Anthony Scalzo, director of the Missouri Poison Center in St. Louis, notified poison centers nationwide about K2 the first week of February after doctors in Missouri reported patients sickened from it.

"At first we had about a dozen cases, but then it really blossomed. By the first week of April, we had 40 cases," Scalzo says. "Missouri remains the epicenter, but it's spreading out."


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-05-24-k2_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

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Must be out of the loop - first I've heard of this drug.

[ChoralScholar]

1. I understand the pesticide is still available at many co-ops and Home Depots everywhere

What's to stop folks from making their own out of bulk tobacco and pesticide or whatever...

[Better Today]

5. Which pesticide is that? I think someone sent me some recently

and though I didn't have any issues, I'm a tad concerned that I may be smoking pesticides.

[hedgehog]

2. Does it turn your eyes blue if you use too much?

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. They banned it here in KS and pretty quickly

Passed a law that went into effect immediately. Back in March or April. Now MO is working at a ban as well.

And from what I have heard, it's not much different from marijuana. Just more expensive.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Here's an article about it: Product review: Will K2 synthetic marijuana get you high?

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/11/product_review_will_k2_synthetic_marijuana_get_you_high.php

[SemperEadem]

6. ah, the spice....

do their eyes glow blue, too?

[Flaneur]

7. The prohibitionist impulse remains strong.

[maxsolomon]

8. accept no substitutes

:smoke:

[Adsos Letter]

9. !

:spray: