Authorities in 13 states thought they were acting to curb a public health threat when they outlawed a form of synthetic marijuana known as K2, a concoction of dried herbs sprayed with chemicals.
But before the laws took effect, many stores that did a brisk business in fake pot had already gotten around the bans by making slight changes to K2's chemical formula, creating knockoffs with names such as "K3," "Heaven Scent" and "Syn."
"It's kind of pointless," said University of Missouri sophomore Brittany May after purchasing a K2 alternative called "BoCoMo Dew" at a Columbia, MO smoke shop. "They're just going to come up with another thing."
Barely six months after Kansas adopted the nation's first ban on K2, even police acknowledge that the laws are all but meaningless because merchants can so easily offer legal alternatives.
Until a year ago, products such as K2 were virtually unknown in the United States. Clemson University chemistry professor John Huffman developed the compounds in 1995 while researching the effect of cannabinoids, the active compounds found in marijuana.
Dr. Huffman had little reason to think his lab work would morph into a commercial product. He calls users of K2 and its chemical cousins "idiots," noting the lack of research into the substance's effects, which include reports of rapid heartbeats and high blood pressure. It's often labeled as incense with warnings against human consumption.
Yet Dr. Huffman has little faith that the bans designed to combat the problem will deter manufacturers or consumers. "It's not going to be effective," he said. "Is the ban on marijuana effective?"
He also doubts that law enforcement agencies will be able to devote the necessary resources to identify such complex creations as "1-pentyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole," the substance's scientific name. The compound sold as K2 is also known by the scientific shorthand of JWH-018, a nod to its creator's initials.
"The guy in the average crime lab isn't really capable of doing the kind of sophisticated tests necessary" to identify the substance, he said.
The bans were adopted by lawmakers or public health officials in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee.
But before the laws took effect, many stores that did a brisk business in fake pot had already gotten around the bans by making slight changes to K2's chemical formula, creating knockoffs with names such as "K3," "Heaven Scent" and "Syn."
"It's kind of pointless," said University of Missouri sophomore Brittany May after purchasing a K2 alternative called "BoCoMo Dew" at a Columbia, MO smoke shop. "They're just going to come up with another thing."
Barely six months after Kansas adopted the nation's first ban on K2, even police acknowledge that the laws are all but meaningless because merchants can so easily offer legal alternatives.
Until a year ago, products such as K2 were virtually unknown in the United States. Clemson University chemistry professor John Huffman developed the compounds in 1995 while researching the effect of cannabinoids, the active compounds found in marijuana.
Dr. Huffman had little reason to think his lab work would morph into a commercial product. He calls users of K2 and its chemical cousins "idiots," noting the lack of research into the substance's effects, which include reports of rapid heartbeats and high blood pressure. It's often labeled as incense with warnings against human consumption.
Yet Dr. Huffman has little faith that the bans designed to combat the problem will deter manufacturers or consumers. "It's not going to be effective," he said. "Is the ban on marijuana effective?"
He also doubts that law enforcement agencies will be able to devote the necessary resources to identify such complex creations as "1-pentyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole," the substance's scientific name. The compound sold as K2 is also known by the scientific shorthand of JWH-018, a nod to its creator's initials.
"The guy in the average crime lab isn't really capable of doing the kind of sophisticated tests necessary" to identify the substance, he said.
The bans were adopted by lawmakers or public health officials in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee.
More from the Washington Times story HERE.
3 comments:
The State has no right to my body.
Pot laws have done precious little to protect the American people from anything. Instead, they've created a monster that eats law enforcement resources, jams the courts, pads lawyers' bills, makes criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and actually promotes a huge international and domestic black market subculture steeped in crime and violence.
When will we learn?
It was our draconian marijuana laws that pushed for "other" substances like the ones in this story to hit the streets.
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