THE LOWDOWN ON FAKE WEED

Multiple brands of incense that contain synthetic cannabinoids sold at
a gas station on Fletcher Avenue.

Despite legislative efforts to outlaw them, packets and jars of
products such as Spice and K2 can still be bought at most local
convenience stores as easily as gum and Gatorade. Products with names
like "Red Dragon" and "Blueberry Meditation" contain a blend of herbal
plants sprayed with chemical compounds meant to mimic the effects of
marijuana.

Warnings on the labels state that the smoke should not be inhaled, but
more than 9,000 calls were made in the last two years to poison
control centers in the U.S. concerning these products, according to a
whitehouse.gov fact sheet.

The Oracle sat down with USF professor and associate director of the
Alcohol and Substance Use Research Institute Jack Darkes to learn
about fake weed and how it has remained legal in spite of state and
federal bans.

The Oracle:What are the differences between these products and actual
marijuana?

Jack Darkes: There are the two major cannabinoid receptors: one and two.
Marijuana tends to, in general, activate both of these equally.
(Synthetic marijuana molecules) were specifically designed for use as
research chemicals to try and understand the ways cannabinoid receptors
in the body work. Because of the way they were synthesized, they
actually activate the CB1 receptor more strongly than marijuana does.
CB1 is the one associated with the psychotropic effects.

Even though it's relatively new, a lot of what is being kind of talked
about as potential negatives are also potential risks associated with
marijuana use. So even though these drugs aren't marijuana -- they're
not THC -- their actions once they are in the body are relatively similar.

O: What are the risks associated with products marketed as incense,
but bought as marijuana substitutes?

JD:When we talk about synthetic molecules being used, we certainly
have to think about the potency issue. In general, they activate the
receptor more strongly, so in general, they are more potent when it
comes to psychological effects.

One would imagine that the people who are actually creating these
products -- K2, Spice -- that there's no quality control. Just as with
two marijuana joints, you may get different potencies that are at
least going to be in a certain limited range.

With these drugs, two different packets of K2 that one might buy in
two different places may contain different concentrations of the
chemical. They may even contain different variations on the molecule.
There's a really large number of different variations on these
synthetic molecules that are out there. So you don't really know which
one you are getting necessarily.

O: How has it maintained legality?

JD:The state of Florida in its last legislative session outlawed five
variations of the chemical. The problem is there's a lot of these out
there. Clever chemists are still tweaking what is out there. With a
lot of them, the molecule is different enough that they're not even
close enough to consider them analogs of THC. And even if they are
analogs, on the Controlled Substances Act, there's what they call the
Analog Act that says any drug that's a chemical analog of a controlled
substance is itself controlled. But that's only in the case of when
they're sold as human consumption.

They all say "not for human consumption." So if it's not for human
consumption, even if it is an analog, it doesn't fall under the Analog
Act. There's chemical ways of manipulating the molecule to get around
legal sanctions and there's also legislative-based ways to get around
it in the way you define it.

O: Is there any chance that these products will be completely
outlawed?

JD:It's hard to see how that could actually happen because if you
outlaw K2, which is basically a brand name, as long as there are novel
variations of the compound, another one will be used instead. It's
hard to imagine how one could create a law comprehensive enough to
kind of capture that.

O: Do you think this "free-for-all" over synthetic marijuana will
affect arguments for and against marijuana legalization?

JD:I'd like to think that the two issues could be separated from each
other in some way. On the other hand, the skeptic in me suggests that
it's likely to be something people can point to and say, "See? See
what happens?"

A lot of the decisions, when it comes to (legalization), are often
very emotion-based. It's probably going to get a negative halo. The
medical marijuana discussion is probably going to be kind of
overshadowed and pulled into this kind of thing.

O: Have you done any research with what's been labeled "synthetic
marijuana?"

JD:A lot of the stuff we are doing now is with younger kids, but if I
were to be doing the research I did five or 10 years ago with college
students, it's definitely one of the things I would include.

There was a study done at (the) University of Florida about a year and
a half ago that was recently published that suggests about 10 percent
of the students they surveyed had used. So, it's clearly not as
prevalent as use of marijuana or alcohol or tobacco. But it is more
prevalent than use of serious drugs like cocaine.

O: What would your advice be for a college student contemplating
purchasing these products?

JD: My generic advice would be it's probably not a good idea. It's got
the positive side -- technically, you're not breaking the law. So for
those concerned about engaging in illegal activities themselves, it
doesn't force you to interact with, for lack of a better term, a
criminal element. So that lifts a burden and creates a sense of
security. On the other hand, one could say you are engaging in a very
risky kind of behavior when you're trusting in whoever created this
product. That's a pretty great risk.