LEGAL MARIJUANA-LIKE PRODUCT MAY HAVE CAUSED TEEN'S COLLAPSE IN HURON COU
NTY

KINDE ? A legal combination of herbs and other ingredients named K-2
incense, a synthetic form of marijuana that induces a similar response
in users, isn?t prevalent in Saginaw but has recently surfaced in
neighboring counties, law enforcers say.

Saginaw Township Police Detective Lt. Gary P. Grauf, said he?d never
heard of the K-2 incense, though he did recently receive a memo with
information about salvia divinorum, which, according to an article
written by Don Fernandez for WebMD Health News, is a hallucinogenic
herb that ?has been smoked for centuries by Mazatec Indians as a
healing and divining tool.?

In addition to availability online, salvia divinorum and K-2 incense
is usually sold at tobacco and ?head shops? that specialize in the
sale of tobacco, pipes, herbs and other tobacco-related products,
including Smoker?s Palace at 5206 Bay, suite C, in Saginaw Township.

A representative for the tobacco retailer confirmed the store sells
K-2 incense and salvia divinorum but declined to discuss them further.

Huron County sheriff?s officials said K-2 incense may have been the
cause of a teen?s hospitalization in the Village of Kinde Wednesday.

They said deputies responded to assist with a collapsed teen and found
a 17-year-old Port Hope Male along with a 19-year-old Bad Axe man who
had been smoking K-2 incense.

The unconscious minor was transported to Huron Medical Center for
treatment and sheriff?s officials could not be reached to confirm the
teen?s condition as of Friday.

Representatives for law agencies in Saginaw County say their
interaction with people who possess or have smoked K-2 incense is minimal
=2E

?We?ve seen (K-2 incense) in a couple places like Mt. Pleasant,? said
Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team Commander Lt. Melvin Mathews. ?We
had a case, I think a year back, we had a report of a gentleman
supposedly selling marijuana, and when ewe made contact with him he
told us what he had.?

Mathews said tests indicated the suspicious substance was not
marijuana.

?At this point in time, it?s not illegal to possess (K-2 incense),?
Mathews said.

K-2 is described in a 2010 article by Daniel J. DeNoon on the WebMD
medical information website as an herbal concoction ?spiked with
powerful (and legal) designer drugs.?

?Package labels feature psychedelic art and claim that the contents
are a mixture of various herbs,? the website says. ?But unlike smoking
the herbs listed on the label, smoking the products produces effects
similar to those of marijuana, hashish and other forms of cannabis.?

Huron County officials said the package displays the warning, ?not for
human consumption,? and multiple deaths nationally have been
attributed to the use of the product.

?Until a drug is tested, it cannot be considered safe,? the WebMD
website says. ?Not only have synthetic cannabinoids not been tested,
nearly all were created for experimental use in animals and cell
cultures -- not in humans.?

Messages were left with the state Department of Community Health but
had not been returned at the time of this post.