Legal, synthetic 'spice' emerges as latest challenge

[Hum]

On a weekend sometime in late winter or early spring, four young people checked themselves into the emergency department at St. John Medical Center complaining of similar symptoms. Each was nervous, panicky, and their hearts were racing, said Dr. Brian Hoyt, the director of the hospital's emergency department.

Two of them arrived together, two others showed up separately. The teenagers and young adults, between the ages of 13 and 26, said they had smoked a synthetic form of marijuana known generically as "spice" but also called by its brand names, Black Mamba and K2.

"It's a new thing that we never saw before," said Hoyt, whose staff observed the patients for several hours before releasing them.

The drug, which looks like ground and dried oregano and smells much like burning marijuana, is legal in Washington and sold in several stores around Longview, including Smokin' J's and Video Store N' More. It costs around $26 per ounce.

Spice is labeled as incense and its manufacturers say it isn't for "human consumption." But it's often rolled in joints or smoked in marijuana pipes.

Hoyt said the drug is designed to attach itself to the receptors of the brain that respond to THC, the main ingredient in old-fashioned organic pot. But a "small percentage" of people are having a "dysphoric reaction" to the drug, becoming nervous and scared, he said. One of the four to visit the emergency room this year had a heart rate of around 160, which could cause heart failure in a person with cardiovascular problems, Hoyt said.

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[Tekkerson]

funny how they ban marijuana which is nonlethal and then when people smoke things like these they are perfectly legal :rolleyes:

[Rob2687]

He who controls the spice, controls the universe!

[Hum]

Lipton ice tea is high enuff for me :laugh:

[2xSilverKnight]

funny how they ban marijuana which is nonlethal and then when people smoke things like these they are perfectly legal :rolleyes:

exactly what I was thinking when reading this !

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

He who controls the spice, controls the universe!

epic! :laugh:

[Shycho]

funny how they ban marijuana which is nonlethal and then when people smoke things like these they are perfectly legal :rolleyes:

Rat poison is perfectly legal. The government can't ban everything that will kill a human. The warning on the box saying not for human consumption should be enough, if they still want to smoke/eat/drink/inject it, then fingers crossed they die from it, and save the taxpayers a few bucks.

[HighwayGlider]

He who controls the spice, controls the universe!

Thanks for making me remember that..... ah, the old days. +rep

:punk:

[CelticWhisper]

[Rudy]

funny how they ban marijuana which is nonlethal and then when people smoke things like these they are perfectly legal :rolleyes:

+1

I don't smoke marijuana but I do think it should be legal

[hkgonra]

It is illegal in Tennessee.

[The Laughing Man]

He who controls the spice, controls the universe!

First thing i though of !

[Tews]

Anyone that is so desperate to get "high" that they would smoke this crap has some serious issues and are prime candidates for the Darwin Award... :wacko:

[SaltLife]

Anyone that is so desperate to get "high" that would smoke this crap has some serious issues and are prime candidates for the Darwin Award... :wacko:

Exactly

Spice is labeled as incense and its manufacturers say it isn't for "human consumption." But it's often rolled in joints or smoked in marijuana pipes.

To smoke this, makes the person no better than those who decide to huff paint to get high. It's pure insanity, and a lack of moral judgment.

[Pharos]

Teenagers do stupid stuff... Looking back I can't believe I tried to get high off an air can.

13 years old is slightly understandable, but 26??????????????????????????????????? Are you kidding me??? You have to be legally retarded to smoke that crap :unsure:

[FloatingFatMan]

epic!

The spice must flow!

[He's Dead Jim]

Exactly

To smoke this, makes the person no better than those who decide to huff paint to get high. It's pure insanity, and a lack of moral judgment.

Well, its not really "moral judgement" when they are only going to harm themselves, more like a lack of self respect.