SPICE HEALTH RISKS DESERVE CLOSER LEGAL ATTENTION

Just when we thought we'd gotten rid of the synthetic marijuana known
as Spice through state and federal bans, it's back again, thanks to
some minor chemical tweaking.

But the news gets worse. Research presented at this week's annual
meeting of the American Psychiatric Association found that 10 Spice
users in one city alone -- San Diego -- were hospitalized for psychosis.

Symptoms in the 10 patients, who were ages 21 to 25, included auditory
and visual hallucinations, paranoid delusions and thoughts of suicide.
Most of the patients recovered from the psychosis in five to eight
days, but symptoms lasted as long as three months in some people.

As Eric Betz reported last week, those are the same symptoms that
cropped up in a Flagstaff man reported to have taken a new blend of
Spice earlier this month. Police took him to the hospital after his
wife and others tried to prevent him from harming himself at the top
of a stairwell.

The drug consists of plant material coated with synthetic chemicals
meant to produce a high similar to marijuana. It is gaining popularity
in part because it cannot be detected in standard, urine-based drug
tests. New laws that ban Spice were made moot as new chemical
combinations not specified in statute were quickly produced.

But drug abuse counselors and police hope the growing adverse
publicity about Spice will discourage users voluntarily. The American
Association of Poison Control Centers reported 2,700 people were
treated for medical emergencies related to synthetic drugs so far this
year, a pace that amounts to a five-fold annual increase over 2010.

At least two local smoke shops sell Spice-like substances, labeling
them as "potpourri." Some of the brand names are Wicked X, King Karma
and Bayou Blaster. McGaugh's Smoke Shop has declined to carry
synthetic cannabis.

Ironically, the rise in the use of a marijuana substitute comes just
as the real thing is about be partially legalized in Arizona. New
state rules governing medical marijuana distribution and consumption
have been issued, along with the first cards for users. State
officials must next choose who will run the 126 dispensaries.

But federal prosecutors recently added an element of uncertainty to
the whole process. U.S. Attorneys in several states, including
Arizona, sent letters to governors reminding them that, state law or
not, marijuana possession and distribution is illegal under federal
law, which they promised to enforce.

The letters might just have been a warning to states not to flout the
federal ban with storefront sales that have little medical oversight.
Arizona has rules that specify a fairly narrow range of qualifying
conditions and the need for a written physician "recommendation" for
use, but as several lawyers have pointed out, the U.S. Attorneys have
not said specifically what they will prosecute and what they won't. At
least that kind of risk isn't as life-threatening as the risk from
Spice -- it's time prosecutors went after sellers of the latter a
little harder now that the health dangers are more clear.