Spice is actually a generic name that refers to a whole class of medicines called synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, which control functions as fundamental as sleep, appetite and libido. Every time the UK tried to crack down on it, a new variant — usually more potent, often more toxic, and always more obscure — has been developed to take its place. There are now dozens if not hundreds of synthetic cannabinoid mutations now available.
The UK finally banned it and all variants in , but that only made its sale more profitable, and supply has stayed level. A few quid is all you need to make a whole day vanish. To tabloid news editors and cruel voyeurs, spice users have become known as zombies.
The message is clear: as undead subhumans, they deserve and need no sympathy, no help, no understanding. They are to be mocked, feared and further marginalised. But they are also in grave danger.
Synthetic cannabinoids, when abused, can cause tachycardia, hypertension, hallucinations, nausea and vomiting, seizures, memory changes, somnolence, respiratory depression, acute anxiety, psychosis and death.
The potency of these chemicals outstrips that of most recreational drugs, often by a factor of an active dose of street heroin might be mg and a typical line of cocaine might contain mg, but most variants of spice are active at just 1mg, making accurate dosing impossible. Over about four years, federal agents arrested hundreds of people and seized their assets in a major multiphase crackdown on synthetic marijuana products known as K2 and spice that transformed some users into zombie-like states or outright killed them.
But a significant number of those drug trafficking cases have fallen apart, including one of the biggest -- against the owners of the Gas Pipe retail chain in North Texas. A slew of cases were filed from to using the Reagan-era drug statute known as the Analogue Act. But defense attorneys nationwide have hired armies of chemistry professors who wrote reports and testified that the chemicals in question were not analogues.
In the Gas Pipe case and others, federal juries have voted to acquit on drug trafficking counts. James Felman, a Tampa, Fla. The biggest factor in defense victories was a U. Supreme Court decision McFadden v. United States in June that for the first time required prosecutors to prove defendants knew they were selling illegal substances.
The Drug Enforcement Administration does not publish a list of banned drug analogues. And experts say there is no scientific consensus backing up government claims. Felman said whether or not a case can be won depends on the experts testifying as well as the nature of the chemicals in question.
The U. In some districts, prosecutors elected to dismiss the drug trafficking charges and proceed to sentencing on the misdemeanor misbranding counts. They were instead sentenced last year to three years behind bars for misbranding their products after a jury acquitted them of the more serious drug trafficking counts.
In other cases, defendants withdrew their guilty pleas and obtained more favorable deals from prosecutors. The legal developments raise questions about how future prosecutions will be handled and whether the government has enough weapons to create a strong enough deterrent. Legal experts say prosecutors will have to be more selective in deciding who to target due to the legal pitfalls that have emerged.
Kessler, a New York lawyer who worked on the Gas Pipe case and others. Even worse are the severe side effects, including anxiety attacks, nausea, hallucinations, paranoia, psychotic episodes, chemical dependency and rapid heart rate. Victims have been known to suffer a severe reaction to the drug, resulting in swelling of the brain. The growing popularity of the drug is causing increasing alarm among law enforcement officials, military personnel, lawmakers and health care professionals across the U.
Spice serves no apparent useful purpose and can result in addicted Family members, drug-impaired drivers and drug-related deaths. Anytime a person consumes an uncontrolled or unregulated drug, he or she is taking a risk. Spice, also known as K2, is a popular legal drug being sold in the U. This drug is said to give the user a marijuana-like high. The next year, President Obama signed the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act, permanently placing several different classes of psychoactive substances, including many synthetic cannabinoids, into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act CSA — the most restrictive classification.
Each state is currently using various administration actions, prosecution strategies, and regulations for product labeling and branding to either quickly ban individual substances or criminalize sales. Recently, states like New York, Virginia and others have pushed for new laws that broaden the chemical definitions meant to be outlined in Schedule I, as well as call for harsher penalties for sale of synthetic cannabinoid products. Instead of further criminalization, alternative approaches are needed to reduce accidental deaths related to drug use, improve public health outcomes, care for vulnerable populations, and protect young people.
0コメント