Know Your Drugs: K2, Spice & Cloud 9

The world of Synthetic Cannabinoids is populated by various products that most of us would never have considered smoking. Under various brand names (including Spice and K2 [click here for NIDA Drugfacts on K2]), small packets marked as "Potpourri," "Not for human consumption," Liquid Potpourri," and "Strongest Incense Ever Made" show up at the neighborhood head shop, and even at your neighborhood Exxon station.
 

Some people will smoke ANYTHING!

When you think about it, running across a packet of "potpourri" at a service station should seem pretty unusual, especially if you relate potpourri with your aged Aunt Agnes' perfumed bathroom. Yet there is is, and people of all ages are buying and smoking these "air fresheners" every day, often with terrible consequences.

Spice/K2

What these consumers know that you and I might not is that these products were made for smoking [click link for Longview News Journal article]. They are synthetic cannabinoids, meant to legally offer the same results as marijuana--though not identical to marijuana. Their effects are more volatile and potentially negative. At their worst,  use of these substances may precipitate psychosis—people show up in the ER, after smoking, suffering severe and unpredictable results, including hypertension, tachycardia, myocardial infarction, agitation, vomiting, hallucinations, acute psychoses, seizures, convulsions and panic attacks.

Legally?

Rah-Rho, Raggy...

Well, technically legally. Ordinances and laws have been passed against certain versions, but all the manufacturers have to do is alter the chemical makeup of Scooby Snax Potpourri, for example, and it becomes legal again. A coalition-member friend of mine in law enforcement says that it is very difficult to charge someone with selling K2 because they can defend it as NOT the same substance that is outlawed (even now that there has been a state law outlawing it). The bad guys get up pretty early in the morning, and they are geniuses with chemistry.

"100% Legal!" Methinks they protest too much!

Cloud 9 and E-Cigs

Spice and K2 are small packets of organic matter, like bits of twigs and herbs, all chemically treated with the aforementioned synthetic cannabinoids. Cloud 9, however, is a "liquid Incense" (whatever the heck that is), so it is much more easily vaporized and smoked through the ever-popular E-Cigarette medium. The negative results of Cloud 9 are the same as K2/Spice, since these products are in the same family.

Little bottles of pink chemicals at the gas station! Let's smoke!