Some know it as K2, spice, dragon smoke, genie or many other slang terms. No matter what name you use for it, they are all synthetic marijuana’s. Stores sell it as herbal incense; users purchase it as a means to get high. Students Against Violence Everywhere began a heated debate over the subject of banning K2 in the Fort Wayne Allen area this summer. The Allen County City Council hosted an open forum to hear both sides of the debate late in July. City Council has said the ordinance against K2 will be a $2500 fine to those caught selling it and $1000 fine to those caught using it.
The main component or argument against K2 or spice, which was created in the mid-1990s, is the striking resemblance its properties hold to marijuana. Organic chemist John Huffman, who works at Clemson University, made the key ingredients of the substance.
According to the WhatisK2, Huffman said his research was conducted to help find new pharmaceutical drugs, not to help people get high. THC, the ingredient that gives marijuana users their high, is not found in K2. However the synthetic ingredients in K2 get you “very high…It’s about 10 times more active than THC,” Huffman said in an interview with LiveScience.
He published his research on synthetics in a paper in 1995. It contained the ingredients and the method the researchers used to make the synthetic substance. After that, it is thought that people started spraying the compound he created onto tobacco and herbs. A few years later, Huffman found out people used it in China as a plant growth stimulant and it was also being smoked in Europe.
Now it’s made its way all the way to Fort Wayne—for better or for worse.
Because of this, for the “less chemically inclined, it means you can smoke a lot less K2 to get just as high,” according to the Greenville Dragnet, a crime news source based out of Greenville County, South Carolina.
One reason for the large popularity is that before all the bad press it was not able to be drug tested for, which made it the ideal substance for people who want to get high and keep their job at the same time.
But even Huffman, the creator, doesn’t think people should be smoking it.
“People who use it are idiots,” Huffman told CBS News. In his lab, on mice, the effects of the synthetic cannabinoid produced “a lower body temperature, partial paralysis and the temporary inability to feel pain,” the report said.
There are deaths reported to have been caused from using the substance, whether or not these deaths are directly caused be the substance or if they are mere coincidences has yet to be determined. Take for example the story of 18 year old Iowa resident David Rozga, who smoked K2, became paranoid and then went home to kill himself. Although some of his friends reported he may have been depressed and suicidal before taking the drug, his parents disagreed.
Due to their petitioning efforts and their feeling that the drug was highly harmful, K2 was deemed illegal in Iowa in July.
But there is no way of proving the K2 was solely responsible for Rozga’s death.
Banning the substance may not be the best option, since some legal prescription drugs that people use daily can cause a myriad of harmful side effects as well.
Some patients who have taken Chantix, a drug used to help stop smoking, have reported feeling suicidal when they stop taking the medication, according to the pill’s safety Web page. Therefore, even legal, unbanned substances can have harmful side effects that can make a person end up in the emergency room.
But a blog post from the Libertarian Party of Allen County expressed disagreement with the proposed ban. “Experience shows that official discouragement of a drug usually only serves to increase demand. Some young people have such an instinct for defiance that I shudder to think what would happen if Congress passed a law against jumping off a bridge,” blogger Robert Enders wrote.
While the ban would give Allen County officials a better idea of who is selling and who is purchasing the product, people will likely still use it regardless. Users could just go to other counties, therefore taking potential revenue away from Allen County.
Fear of being “caught” is also beginning to happen. More than one dozen students surveyed by The Communicator who use K2 refused to comment on the record. However, an additional Communicator survey showed that outside the K2 subculture, a few are still unaware the substance exists. Out of 53 IPFW students polled, 10 had never even heard of it.
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A ban on these products is beyond hypocritical. The FDA approves toxic substances for human consumption all of the time and no one bats an eye, but when it comes to legal highs, watch out! What is the point of prohibition anyway? These guys have k2 incense products that are legal in every single state http://www.buyk2incense.com so you see, it’s a never-ending cycle.
They are absolutely full of it. They were banning K2 and the like before they actually started research on any possible side effects. Don’t be foolish. They don’t care about the well-being of Americans, otherwise the FDA and Big Pharma wouldn’t be getting away with all the toxins they push on us! Provided there are age restrictions, If someone wants some k2 herb, who are you to tell them that they can’t have it? If someone wants to, they will buy k2 smoke whether it’s legal or not as that is what happens with anything else that is unjustly and ridiculously prohibited. K2 incense will be no different. Plus, the formulas are constantly changing. http://www.k2incense.org Offers several products that are legal all over the world.