COUNCIL'S K2 BAN PREMATURE

Normally, this newspaper wouldn't hesitate to back a law that keeps
dangerous drugs off the streets and away from our children. We would
like to share the enthusiasm of Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and Mayor Pro
Tem Dwaine Caraway for banning a fake form of marijuana, but something
important was missing from Wednesday's City Council vote to enact the
new ban. Namely, facts.

The ban targets all forms of synthetic cannabinoids -- fake pot
produced in a laboratory. They are legally sold all over the United
States under brand names such as K2 and Spice. Neither Congress nor
the state Legislature has listed them as controlled substances. The
worst that the Food and Drug Administration can say is that they are
"not approved" for consumption. The substances are the subject of
ongoing research to determine if they might offer medical benefits.

Yet the City Council chose to ban all such products, along with
paraphernalia linked to their use, after hearing an impassioned plea
by Caraway about the danger he thinks K2 poses to children.

The lone voice of skepticism was from council member Angela Hunt, who
asked City Attorney Tom Perkins and Police Chief David Brown for
statistics quantifying the dangers. They had none. Not a single death
or hospital trip can be attributed solely to synthetic
cannabinoids.

Hunt asked about calls to poison control centers, and the response was
that, in Dallas, there have been six this year. Statewide, 119 calls
mentioned cannabinoids. The volume of calls involving tobacco was
several times higher.

Given that underwhelming evidence, Hunt proposed treating K2 like
alcohol, which has a far greater body of statistical evidence
demonstrating the danger to children. With alcohol, Hunt said, we ban
its sale to minors and punish adults caught providing it to them. She
suggested, without success, delaying an outright ban at least until
the federal or state governments deem it dangerous enough to be controlled.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statistics indicate that
marijuana usage is around 6.7 percent of all teens and declining.
Alcohol abuse among this age group is a much more significant problem,
with a 2007-08 survey showing that 51.4 percent of teens had used
alcohol in the previous month, while 18 percent had partaken in binge
drinking. But the council wouldn't contemplate banning all alcohol in
the city.

Caraway's concern about children's exposure to K2 is understandable,
but his argument had less to do with evidence than emotion. The facts
supporting his case were, at times, distorted -- such as that "most"
of Europe bans cannabinoids. So far, only 12 of the 50 countries in
Europe regulate such substances.

By all means, let's address the dangers where they truly exist. But
before instituting broad-brush bans, we should be guided by science
and statistical evidence, not emotions.Are all cannabinoids dangerous?
Maybe not

Testifying before Congress in 2004, Dr. Robert Meyer, then-director of
the FDA's Office of Drug Evaluation, offered this assessment of two
prescription cannabinoids -- Marinol and Cesamet -- as alternatives to
medical marijuana for use by AIDS and cancer patients:

"These products have been through FDA's rigorous approval process and
have been determined to be safe and effective for their respective
indications. It is only through the FDA drug approval process that
solid clinical data can be obtained and a scientifically based
assessment of the risks and benefits of an investigational drug is
made."