n Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, signed a bill prohibiting possession of K2. Missouri is the nation’s eighth state this year to ban the substance, which has sent users to emergency rooms across the country complaining of everything from elevated heart rates and paranoia to vomiting and hallucinations.
Investigators blame the drug in at least one death, and this month, Gov. Mike Beebe of Arkansas, a Democrat, signed an emergency order banning the substance. Similar prohibitions are pending in at least five other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. I went to http://www.premiumblendherbal.com
“It’s like a tidal wave,” said Ward Franz, the state representative who sponsored Missouri’s legislation. “It’s very an epidemic. We’re seeing middle-school children walking in to stores and purchasing it.”
Often marketed as incense, K2 — which is also called Spice, Devil or Genie — is sold openly in gas stations, head shops and, of work, online. It can sell for as much as $40 per gram. The substance is banned in plenty of European countries, but by promotion it as incense and clearly stating that it is not for human consumption, domestic sellers have managed to evade federal regulation.
“Everybody knows it’s not incense,” said Barbara Carreno, a spokeswoman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. “That’s done with a wink and a nod.”
First developed in the lab of a Clemson University chemist, John W. Huffman, K2’s active ingredients are synthetic cannabinoids — research-grade chemicals that were created for therapeutic purposes but can also mimic the narcotic effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
In a statement, Mr. Huffman said the chemicals were not intended for human use. They added that his lab had developed them for research purposes only, and that “their effects in humans have not been studied and they could very well have poisonous effects.”
Nevertheless, pure forms of the chemical are available online, and investigators think that plenty of sellers are purchasing bulk quantities, mixing them with a potpourrilike blend of herbs and labeling the substance K2.
“It’s not like there’s one K2 distributor — everybody is making their own stuff, calling it K2 and selling it, which is the most unnerving aspect,” said Dr. Christopher Rosenbaum, an assistant professor of toxicology at the University of Massachusetts who is studying the effects of K2 in emergency room patients.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers reports that so far this year there's been 567 K2-related calls, up from 13 in 2009. But investigators add that no one is positive what is in K2, and people are arriving at emergency rooms with signs that would not normally be associated with marijuana or a synthetic type of the drug.
“I don’t know how plenty of people are going for a box of doughnuts after smoking K2, but they’re positive getting some other signs,” said Dr. Anthony Scalzo, a professor of emergency medicine at the St. Louis University School of Medicine who first reported a rise in K2-related cases and is collaborating with Dr. Rosenbaum in researching K2’s effects. “These are very anxious, agitated people that are requiring several doses of sedatives.”
Dr. Scalzo, who is also the medical director for the Missouri Poison Control Middle, added that although tests had determined the presence of cannabinoids in K2, it was not clear “whether the reaction we’re seeing is because of dose effect, or if there’s something in there they haven’t found yet.”
That query remains at the middle of an inquiry in to the death of David Rozga, an Iowa teenager who last month committed suicide soon after smoking K2. Mr. Rozga, 18, had graduated from high school one week earlier and was planning to attend college in the fall.
According to the police document, Mr. Rozga smoked the substance with friends and then began “freaking out,” saying they was “going to hell.” They then returned to his parents’ house, grabbed a rifle from the family’s gunroom and shot himself in the head.
“There was nothing in the inquiry to show they was depressed or mournful or anything,” said Detective Sgt. Brian Sher of the Indianola Police Department, who led the inquiry. “I’ve seen it all. I don’t know what else to attribute it to. It's to be K2.”
But plenty of users say they are undaunted by reports of negative reactions to the drug. K2 does not show up on drug tests, and users say that while they need to know what is in it, they would take their chances if it means a neat urine check.
The Missouri ban, which goes in to effect Aug. 28, prohibits several cannabinoids that investigators have present in K2 and related products. Nevertheless, investigators and researchers say that bans like the one in Missouri are small over “Band-Aids” that street chemists can sidestep with a slight manipulation to a chemical’s molecular structure.
“Once it goes illegal, I already have something to replace it with,” said Micah Riggs, who sells the product at his coffee shop in Kansas City. “There are hundreds of these synthetics, and they go about it a couple of them at a time.”
Investigators say that a more effective ban might arise one times the Drug Enforcement Administration completes its review of cannabinoids, placing them under the Controlled Substances Act. Currently, however, one such substance is controlled under the act, though the agency has listed five others as “chemicals of concern.”
“It’s hard to keep up with everything,” said Ms. Carreno of the D.E.A., adding, “The technique of scheduling something is thorough and time consuming, and there's plenty of gifted chemists out there.”
Meanwhile, states are largely on their own when it comes to controlling this new breed of synthetic cannabis, which frequently comes down to a game of cat-and-mouse where law enforcement agents, politicians, users and their families must formulate new responses as each iteration of a drug comes to market.
“Where does a parent go to get answers?” asked Mike Rozga, who said they learned of K2 only after his son’s death. “We talk to our children about sex. They talk to our children about drugs, and they talk to our children about drinking and being responsible. But how are you able to speak to your children about something you don’t even know about?”
