CLEMSON CHEMIST SAYS HIS WORK ABUSED TO MARKET FAKE MARIJUANA

CLEMSON - It's troubling but probably was inevitable, said Clemson
University chemist John W. Huffman, who after a lifetime of scientific
research is seeing marijuana-related compounds he developed as lab tools in
a quest to improve health used for a potentially dangerous high.

Synthetic marijuana-related compounds he painstakingly developed over two
decades to study their biological effects and ultimately develop
medications to help AIDS, multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy patients, now
are gaining popularity with recreational drug users as "fake" pot.

He is concerned because of the potential harm these compounds may cause.

"Evidently, some people have figured out how to make them and are putting
them in products marketed as incense," said Huffman, 77, a nationally known
researcher who has won the National Institutes of Health's Senior Scientist
Award and whose work has been published in scientific journals.

Huffman said he first learned through e-mails from a German blogger and
some European chemists that two of his compounds were being used in some
"fake marijuana" products under names such as K2 and Spice.

"I figured once it got started in Germany it was going to spread. I'm
concerned that it could hurt people," Huffman said. "I think this was
something that was more or less inevitable. It bothers me that people are
so stupid as to use this stuff."

The compounds, developed in research funded by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse almost continuously since 1984, aren't meant for human
consumption, Huffman said. The effects on humans haven't been studied, and
the compounds should not be used as recreational drugs and could be toxic,
he said.

The products are legal and easily available over the counter and online. No
proof of age is needed, and Huffman and health officials are concerned.

"This high-end blend is guaranteed to chill your mood," touts a product
description on Amazon.com.

"It's an emerging substance of abuse," said Jill Michels, director of the
Palmetto Poison Center at the University of South Carolina's College of
Pharmacy. "Teens that are not even of legal driving or drinking age can get
this substance."

Michels said the Palmetto Poison Center, which is South Carolina's poison
control agency, has had no calls on the product yet. Curtis Reece, manager
of prevention at the Phoenix Center in Greenville, said counselors are
aware of national concern but haven't seen evidence of local use.

Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center has seen nothing
unusual in this area, said spokeswoman Sandy Dees, though problems are
beginning to crop up in emergency rooms elsewhere in the country.

Huffman and his research team have developed more than 450 synthetic
cannabinoid compounds in order to help understand diseases and provide
information for development of medications.

Cannabinoids include THC - the active ingredient in cannabis plants - but
also other substances that interact with the cannabinoid receptors in the
brain and other organs.

"These receptors don't exist so that people can smoke marijuana and get
high. They play a role in regulating appetite, nausea, mood, pain and
inflammation," Huffman said. "They may be involved in the development of
conditions such as osteoporosis, liver disease and some kinds of cancer."

Huffman said he gets angry when he's blamed for the harmful effects of the
compounds that he developed to further scientific study that ultimately
could improve the quality of life for millions of people and not for
recreational use. He holds users responsible for their own actions.

"If you go around paying $40 for a packet of leaves that contains who knows
what and smoke it, you are not a very responsible person. This is akin to
playing Russian roulette," Huffman said.

The herbs are simply "an inert ingredient to spray the stuff on to deliver
the product," said Dr. Anthony Scalzo, professor and director of toxicology
at St. Louis University and medical director of the Missouri Poison Center
at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital.

In recent months, Scalzo has seen more than 30 cases of young people, most
between the ages of 14 and 21, coming into the emergency room with spiking
heart rates and blood pressure after smoking K2.

Scalzo said he started noticing scattered cases late last year and by
January was seeing enough cases to call it a trend.

Patients are agitated and very anxious, he said. Heart rates race to 125 to
140 beats a minute and blood pressures are as high as 160 over 110.

"This is serious blood pressure. These patients are stimulated, and it's
not a pleasant stimulation that's why they are in the emergency room,"
Scalzo said.

Symptoms sometimes include hallucinations and tremors. One 15-year-old was
about to jump out of a fifth-floor window because he was hallucinating and
didn't realize what he was doing. Fortunately, said Scalzo, a friend
stopped him.

One of Scalzo's concerns is that the symptoms don't fit the typical
marijuana high that lowers the heart rate.

He's also concerned about the easy availability and has testified before
Missouri lawmakers considering outlawing the product. Patients have told
him they buy the products at convenience stores and head shops. One patient
reported buying K2 at a bait and tackle shop, Scalzo said.