C.T. wrote:
Illinois lawmakers are weighing legislation aimed at preventing manufacturers of synthetic marijuana from skirting laws banning the substance often sold and branded as “Spice” or “K2.”
The effort comes after public health officials reported that four people have died in recent weeks after using synthetic cannabinoids believed to be laced with rat poison. Another 164 people have been sickened by the substance also known as “fake weed,” showing up in hospital emergency rooms after coughing up blood or experiencing bleeding in their urine, nose or gums. Most cases have been reported in the Chicago or Peoria areas.
Synthetic cannabinoids are a man-made mixture of hundreds of chemicals that affect the same brain cell receptors as the active ingredient in marijuana — commonly known as THC — that causes people to get a euphoric high. The chemicals are typically sprayed on a plant material to be smoked, or the mixture can be sold in a liquid form to be used in e-cigarettes or vaping devices.
Illinois has passed several laws over the years designed to keep synthetic marijuana off the shelves, but manufacturers often tweak the formula to get around rules banning certain chemicals. In fewer than 10 years, the types of synthetic cannabinoid formulas jumped from two in 2009 to more than 80 in 2015, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Now, a measure that cleared the state Senate this week would ban all types of synthetic cannabinoids instead of just specific formulas. It’s a “catch-all” approach designed to prevent manufacturers from circumventing laws that only ban specific chemical combinations. Drugs that would be prohibited include any synthetic cannabinoids as well as piperazines or synthetic cathinones that are not approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Manufacturing or delivery of those substances would carry two to five years of prison time and fines of as much as $25,000. Possession may result in at least one year in jail.
“What this bill does is it closes that loophole,” said Sen. Jacqueline Collins, a Democrat from Chicago who is sponsoring the legislation. “Right now you can go into many of these corner stores on the South and West Side and see these drugs on display. It’s very popular, it’s cheap and easy access, but it’s deadly.”
The proposal passed without opposition, and is now in the House for consideration.
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That's odd, this news should be very important to the UK which has a a big spice problem.
Is Europe a big market for spice?
Spice is not "potent weed", since it does not contain terpenes and the other spectrum of compounds, one can call it "potent/synthetic weed" as much as sex dolls can be called "synthetic females", it's some artificial shite.
Although mostly I've only had low quality Indian street weed, and I've had such (-->) only once or twice, I love good strains of weed, like rare strains and cool genetics (like the purple, red, orange, yellow, golden, black colored buds that are now seen in the US)... sativas that get you high and boost your nonlinear thinking as well as bodily indicas... but you can't call good gene weeds (high THC content is a typical characteristic, but there are other compounds of note like limonene) something that gets you "too high", this "spice" is different. Maybe what passes for "skunk" in some places is crappy weed with spice mixed in, maybe since something like that would be easier to smuggle? After all because of prohibition in many places, weed lovers have to depend on the mafia for their supply. And this should be a problem in Europe, ref the historic "spice traders" (hashashins), Ferdinand, a Berliner at the hemp museum told me, get your weed from the blacks, not the Arabs, because sometimes the latter's weed is not safe, as i said, a seedy history.
It's sad that human health is sacrificed due to these sociopolitical/economic calisthenics. A friendly planet would have been with most people being "friends in need = friends with weed", weed & seeds used to be shared (among the rare weed lovers) just after ww2 quite a lot.
Also check this out pretty cool subculture that won WW2 and overthrew the reefer madness* propagandists : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(1940s_subculture)
* (voted the worst film ever** yet it had a lasting impact maybe a reaction to the excesses of the Hippie Age ... Hippie is not equal to hipster, the hipsters did only weed, the hippies did all kinds of shit like lsd, crack, coke etc.)
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... .281936.29