New synth pot blends legal, dangerous

[oscar169]

• By Henry Erb

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Though synthetic marijuana knock-offs are legal and available at stores around the area and country, Shakedown Street has stopped selling them.

"Everyone loved" the products at first, employee Dan Wall told 24 Hour News 8. But they "found out real quick people just drop off. They turn into different people. It's kind of like crack."

The Kent County Health Department is making synthetic pot a public health issue because the legal system can't keep up with the problem.

"These are completely legal and kids are abusing them, kids and young adults are abusing them," the department's Lisa LaPlante said. "Kind of like they do marijuana, getting similar highs, but also getting very sick from them."

Vomiting, rapid heart rates, disorientation and convulsions are some of the effects the health department said results from the use of the synthetic marijuana products.

The synthetics are sold as potpourri in a variety of retail outlets. They're all marked "not for human consumption," but they're widely used to get high.

The Michigan state legislature banned some of the ingredients in the established and well-known products like Spice and K2. But underground chemists trumped the law by creating slightly different -- and legal -- formulas.

The health department said local law enforcement agencies are getting calls from schools and parents, and officials with the GRPD said they've seen 30 cases in the last month. But they couldn't prosecute because the products were modified to evade the law.

Shakedown Street's Wall said he tried synthetics once and didn't like it. He saw friends use it with bad effects.

"It's just not good for you," he said.

In January, Ionia County investigators estimated thieves stole $629 worth of "spice" or "incense blends" -- chemically altered drugs that sometimes have an effect like heroin. The Ionia County Sheriff's Department told 24 Hour News 8 robbing or breaking into businesses for the drug is a "dangerous trend."

 

[ttystikk]

You know sometimes the answer is so damned obvious it really makes a fella scratch his head and wonder...

If this stuff is so dangerous, then why not LEGALIZE CANNABIS?! Oh shit- can't have that!

 

[vaporedout]

its so funny how they try to replicate marijuana just to make something worse for you. when salvia came out, i remember news stories of kids wanting to commit suicide while on salvia.. they spun it so hard towards MMJ, saying theyre trying to get the high of marijuana.... WELL???? you wouldnt drink iso alcohol or mouthwash (maybe on intervention) just so you dont have to by beer. ive said it a million times, alcohol and cigs kill more people daily than pretty much anything, and because of ONE movie (reefer madness) people STILL think MJ is worse!!

 

[Vakman]

from personal experience i can say I'm glad society as a whole has started taking a stand against the synthetic drugs, I've smoked em, and they changed me. i started withdrawing from my loved ones and spending more time in my house blazing every 15-45 minutes just to keep my high going. i also started to notice a lot of joint issues as well as early onset symptoms of fibromyalgia and insomnia. id stay awake just to keep my high going. that was a dark time in my life and I'm glad its over. all sorts of people have been having crazy long term effects of it, and even death, yes i enjoyed it while it lasted but I'm glad its illegal where i live now.
i don't think that the only reason that mj remains illegal in fifty state s just due to reefer madness, although that has played a major role on the stereotype it has.

 

[420bliss]

You know sometimes the answer is so damned obvious it really makes a fella scratch his head and wonder...

If this stuff is so dangerous, then why not LEGALIZE CANNABIS?! Oh shit- can't have that!

nope that dosent fit in with private for profit prisons, its just another thing they can make illegal and bust people for, i know a couple shop owners that have been busted selling spice.

 

[psilobuds]

they're not legal in oz. the whole lot of them were scheduled pretty recently. reckon it's a good thing. never tried any of them but from all i heard from those who did, the effects were not exactly desirable. better to stick to the real thing. less competition for growers too!

 

[Motarebel]

You guys remember a few weeks back when that Detroit Lion player got pulled over and he had potpourri in his mouth? lol They said it was mj mixed with potpourri and he's facing mj charges which will be a small fine him i'm sure. Peeps need to wake up ,the only one lookin out for #1 is you so don't blow it! The government couldn't duplicate it and no blackmarket product will ever hold your health as a top priority.

 

[stanknugzz77]

This is definitely a sad state of affairs. Keep cannabis illegal, but allow other more harsh, disgusting imitations to kill children. I have never tried this shit (I have my own favorite medicine already), but I have heard of K2 and reports of and from people that have tried it. I would not call most of the users that I know the brightest, but this shit should not even be out in the first place for people to fuck up their lives with. It mostly prays on children who don't have the means to acquire cannabis. I hate for anyone to have the power to choose for me, but it just saddens me that cannabis is the "root of all evil" and all of the other stuff that is way worse IMHO flows like a river through the streets. America makes me fucking SICK.

when salvia came out, i remember news stories of kids wanting to commit suicide while on salvia..

I do not have the same feeling towards salvia divinorum as I do the synthetic bullshit. At least salvia is a natural plant. Positive vibes...

~nugzz

 

[swisscheese]

It's not pot or synthetic marijuana etc. The way the media and people are labeling it is giving marijuana a bad name when it is clearly an unrelated substance. Trying to cause a public backlash against marijuana. Might as well call cigarettes synthetic marijuana while we are at it since people smoke them too. Spice is dangerous and anybody who would sell it to a kid should be in jail.

 

[Thoth]

Totally agree Swisscheese. these synthetic alternatives have nothing to do with actual marijuana and likening them only serves to harm the public image of weed. These synthetics are clearly not safe and have had completely inadequate testing done on them to be deemed safe before being released. Anyone cashing in on them obviously doesn't care about the harm they are doing to the people who ignorantly use them.

 

[newbe]

hold on the only reason that these dumb asses are smoking that shit is not that it gives u a buzz but you wount piss dirty for mommy and daddys piss test or the job maybe even the po all in all it says not for human consumption anyone with a 5 grade reading level can see it if not just make it like all the other bullshit thats not good for kids just dont seel that to them but lets go ahead and sell them huge cans of monster or any energydrink that gets a 15 or 16 year olds heart going over 100 beats a min even when your just sitting down cant be good for you and they let kids buy 3- 4 if not more of them a day now thats realy fucked up so befor we get down on the people who make this insence and put not for human consumtion stop and think about all the shit we do put into our bodys that says for consumtion ???

 

[Vakman]

hold on the only reason that these dumb asses are smoking that shit is not that it gives u a buzz but you wount piss dirty for mommy and daddys piss test or the job maybe even the po all in all it says not for human consumption anyone with a 5 grade reading level can see it if not just make it like all the other bullshit thats not good for kids just dont seel that to them but lets go ahead and sell them huge cans of monster or any energydrink that gets a 15 or 16 year olds heart going over 100 beats a min even when your just sitting down cant be good for you and they let kids buy 3- 4 if not more of them a day now thats realy fucked up so befor we get down on the people who make this insence and put not for human consumtion stop and think about all the shit we do put into our bodys that says for consumtion ???

ya know i had a complete paragraph written up to post but then i realized you are a clown faced cum guzzler. and probably wouldn't be able to comprehend a quarter of what i had written. have a nice day. :)

 

[lone420ranger]

My neighbor recently smoked some of this synthetic stuff and his description of the effects reminded me of an LSD-like experience...he said he remembers sinking into the couch and being out of his body, looking at himself from above.

But it doesn't register on drug tests...he said that was his reason for using it (he was within a week of being hired in at high paying job).

 

[Vakman]

are you guys gonna start sucking eachothers cocks now? no one cares about the beef you have.