FAKE POT POSES REAL DANGERS

Products Marketed As Potpourri Harbour Severe Side-Effects When
Smoked

The weed may be fake, but the potential dangers are
real.

That's the message health authorities in Canada and the United States
are sending out about a herbal incense product that, when smoked,
mimics some of the effects of marijuana.

Sold online and in head shops under brand names such as K2, Spice and
Yucatan Fire, the packets of dried herbs (including white and blue
water lily, dwarf skullcap and blue lotus) are infused with one or
more synthetic cannabinoids -- molecules that mirror the psychoactive
properties in marijuana.

Though the products are typically marketed as incense or potpourri,
"It is believed that these products are generally smoked by consumers
for their stimulant properties," said Ashley Lemire, a Health Canada
spokesperson.

And while these products can deliver a marijuana-like high, they've
also been known to have other side-effects, authorities say.

In late March, the American Association of Poison Control Centers
issued a warning about the imitation pot, saying users reported a
racing heart rate, agitation, anxiety, confusion and nausea.

"Parents should be on the lookout for what looks like incense in their
child's room and watch to see if their children seem more anxious than
usual," the warning said.

In Canada, synthetic cannabinoids are already considered a controlled
substance, but that hasn't stopped herbal products containing those
illegal ingredients from entering the country. Lemire said Health
Canada is working on distributing information to law-enforcement
agencies and border officials to help them identify products
containing the illegal substances so they can be "seized at points of
entry into Canada and removed from retail outlets."

Health Canada was spurred to act after police departments contacted
the agency uncertain whether the products were legal to sell or
purchase, she said.

One website that sells K2 products is k2-incense.com,where three-gram
pouches of K2 herbal blends go for between $30 and $60.

In an e-mailed statement, the website's operators, who refused to
identify themselves by name, said their products are "sold strictly as
incense" and that they are safe. "We do not condone misuse/abuse of
the product," the statement said.

The statement also said that the K2 brand has been "hijacked" by
counterfeiters who sell a poor-quality product made in amateur
chemists' kitchens, basements and garages.

"More bans of our product will result in more counterfeiters and more
issues. Brings you back to the Prohibition of the '20s and the
counterfeiters making alcohol in filthy warehouses and basements. Long
live the government and its eternal wisdom!"

Jodie Emery, wife of high-profile Vancouver marijuana activist Marc
Emery who recently surrendered to authorities on charges of selling
marijuana seeds to Americans, said she doesn't think the market for
synthetic marijuana is as big in Canada as in the U.S. because real
marijuana is so much more accessible north of the border.

She said she knows people who've tried the imitation pot, and the
reaction is always negative. Instead of mellowing them out, she said,
"it makes them anxious."