Posts Tagged ‘Spice’

Fake drugs, real problems: Spice, Bath Salts & 2C-E

Apr 14th, 11 / 8 Comments

In December, we reported on the DEA’s ban on five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana, more commonly known as “spice.” Since then, more than 20 states have independently outlawed synthetic cannabinoid chemicals or moved to take them off the shelves. But synthetic marijuana is still readily available — its manufacturers staying a step ahead of the law through the development of new formulas mere molecules apart from the illegal ones.

Now there is a new synthetic doppelganger growing in popularity: “synthetic cocaine” sold under the guise of bath salts. (If you haven’t heard of it, watch this Today Show story). The effects of this new designer drug, made with chemicals like methylenedioxypyrovalerone, have been compared in the media to those of cocaine, MDMA, and even LSD. Whatever the high may be, the American Poison Control Center says bath salts have resulted in 1,511 trips to the emergency room this year. And the horror stories in the media connected to the chemical are mounting: Last month a 22-year-old Rutgers University student was allegedly beaten to death by her bath-salt-snorting boyfriend. Weeks earlier, authorities in Kentucky said a young woman driving on a highway after using bath salts became convinced her 2-year-old was a demon. She allegedly pulled over, dropped the child on his head, and walked away carrying her 5-year-old. In January, Neil Brown of Fulton, Missouri, slit his face and stomach with a hunting knife after allegedly taking bath salts.

Despite the stories about the dangers of synthetic cannabis and cocaine and the attempts to outlaw some of them, these drug imposters aren’t difficult to find, as I discovered after just five minutes of telephone calls to smoke shops in my area. I called a dozen smoke shops in the Phoenix area asking if they carried bath salts and spice, which banned the primary spice chemicals earlier this year. Only one shop said no, and the clerk referred me to another shop; another said yes and corrected me. “Um, herbal incense, you mean,” the guy on the phone said.

Another synthetic drug called 2C-E, has been garnering attention after a mass overdose at a party in Minnesota that led to one death. On March 16, 19-year-old Trevor Robinson died in Minneapolis after overdosing at the party; ten others at the party went to the emergency room after using the chemical. Reportedly similar to LSD and psychedelic mushrooms, 2C-E is a synthetic hallucinogen developed more than 30 years ago by DEA licensed psychopharmacologist, Alexander Shulgin. Like other designer drugs when they first hit the market, 2C-E is not a controlled substance in the U.S. and, like the others, synthetics with similar chemical structures are also legal and available online. Minnesota legislators are weighing a ban on the chemical.

So why the sudden shift to designer drugs? Are harsh penalties nudging thousands to try “legal” alternatives? Are we just bored of getting high au naturel? According to a report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime last year, global drug use is shifting towards synthetic drugs as demand for coke and heroin declines in developed countries and rises in the developing world. This is in large part due to Obama’s Afghan counterinsurgency strategy, coca eradication efforts in Colombia, and a fungus outbreak affecting the source of 89 percent of the world’s opium. Read more here.

The chemical synthetics may be more dangerous than the illicit drugs they replicate — especially in the case of chemical-drenched spice over naturally-grown marijuana. But is banning these chemicals the answer? The Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates legalizing marijuana and ending the drug war, says banning “spice” and other synthetic drugs just creates an illegal market for those chemicals as well. ”When policymakers outlaw a drug, they give up all control over it,” Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, told USA Today. “Instead of handing Spice and other drugs over to organized crime to make and distribute, it would be better to regulate the drugs to prohibit young people from getting access.”

What do you think?

-David Robles with AJC

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Drug Policy, Synthetic Drugs

This Week in Drugs (Feb. 25, 2011)

Feb 25th, 11 / 1 Comment

Federal authorities have launched a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels following last week’s murder of a U.S. agent in Mexico. Arizona’s acting Special Agent in Charge, Doug Coleman, said several hundred DEA agents teamed up with hundreds more federal and local officers, resulting in 31 arrests. “The overall message here is that we as U.S. law enforcement are going to do something when we see that a cartel in Mexico is going to target U.S. agents,” Coleman told The Arizona Republic. By Thursday morning, law enforcement nationwide had seized more than $4.5 million in cash and nearly 20 guns, arrested more than 100 people and confiscated about 23 pounds of methamphetamine, 107 kilograms of cocaine, 5 pounds of heroin and 300 pounds of marijuana. Read more about the crackdown from The Washington Post here.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon will meet with President Obama next week to address the drug war’s increasing violence, especially the murder of a U.S. agent near Mexico City, Business Insider reports. Mexican defense officials told The Wall Street Journal the attack was a mistake in identity, however some believe the agents may have been targeted by the cartel. Either way, U.S. lawmakers are considering ways of arming U.S. agents in Mexico, something that has not been allowed since a 1990 agreement. Read more from Fox News here.

The Pinal County (AZ) Sheriff’s Office reported Wednesday morning the arrest of 102 suspects and the seizure of 3,200 pounds of marijuana after a four-day operation in the Vekol Valley and Silver Bell Mountain areas, The Arizona Republic reports. The drug and human trafficking-focused operation also resulted in the recovery of seven stolen vehicles and 12 firearms.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill Tuesday outlawing the sale of synthetic marijuana, commonly known as ‘Spice,’ the Phoenix Business Journal reports. The federal and state government are moving to make Spice and its sister compounds, once legally sold at smoke shops, illegal.

Months after Butte County, Calif., law enforcement coordinated raids on seven marijuana dispensaries, the District Attorney’s Office has yet to file criminal charges or return confiscated money to the dispensary owners, Toke of the Town reports. More than 100 law enforcement officers on served search warrants June 30 on seven marijuana dispensaries and 11 residences.

A 10,000-square-foot hydroponics store enthusiastically marketing itself as the “Wal-Mart of weed” will open tomorrow in Sacramento, The Sacramento Bee reports. The first national franchise for a company that bills itself as a supply and training destination for legal pot growers, weGrow attracted national attention for its unfettered embrace of pot culture.

Washington’s largest newspaper, The Seattle Times, published an editorial last Friday calling for the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana in the state of Washington. According to Seattle’s alternative news site The Stranger, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske contacted the newspaper to speak personally with the editorial board after the editorial appeared. Seattle Times editorial writer Bruce Ramsey told The Stranger that the White House called “right after our editorial ran, so I drew the obvious conclusion… he didn’t like our editorial.” The meeting, scheduled for next Friday, hasn’t stopped The Seattle Times from publishing pro-pot editorials like one urging House Speaker Frank Chopp to allow a hearing on House Bill 1550, state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson’s bill to legalize marijuana and sell it through the Washington state liquor stores.

A man in Fitchburg, Mass., became the 10th to die in US drug enforcement operations this year after being shot by a state trooper on Tuesday, StoptheDrugWar.com reports. According to the police, 21-year-old Roger Padilla refused to pull over, leading the trooper on a brief pursuit to a cul-de-sac. The trooper stepped out of his black, unmarked SUV and repeatedly commanded Padilla to exit. According to police, Padilla began driving his car toward the trooper at which point he was fired upon and killed.

New Colombian criminal bands are springing up to take over cocaine production and fill a void created by the U.S.-backed drug war, Reuters reports. Linked to former paramilitary groups, the gangs have slaughtered human rights activists, public officials and civilians, the United Nations said on Thursday.

Finally, the wealthy Mexican city of Monterrey has become a ‘city of massacres’ as drug war violence erupts in the streets. Watch the PBS NewsHour video here:

-David Robles

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Drug Policy, Drug War History, Guns, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border

This Week In Drugs (Jan. 22, 2011)

Jan 22nd, 11 / 1 Comment

With Amanda covering of the horrific Tucson shootings and my own trip to Mexico City, it’s been an eventful break for us here at CrawfordOnDrugs.com, but the drug war never sleeps.

Police in Monterrey, Mexico found five mutilated bodies outside the wealthy city last Tuesday, part of a series of attacks that have killed 23 people. Reuters reports the bodies of the five men, their arms and legs chopped off, were dumped on a street in the town of Montemorelos just south of Monterrey. Part of the same string of killings, three brothers were killed in a drive-by-shooting while they were eating tacos, gunmen killed five men in a working class neighborhood, and a woman died of a heart attack after witnessing the multiple homicide. Nine others were killed within a span of 24 hours.

In a surprise move by President Alvaro Colom, hundreds of Guatemalan troops flooded the northern state of Alta Verapaz last month to combat Mexico’s feared Zetas drug gang in small towns near the border, Reuters reported. What the president has declared a “state of siege,” has been extended for another 30 days as the military struggles to block cartel destabilization and “recover governance in Alta Verapez.” Read more about the long reach of the drug war here and watch a video on Mexico’s increasing role in the production of our Meth here.

Mexican journalist Marcela Turati Munoz has compiled the stories of victims of the drug war in her new book, “Fuego Cruzado,” Spanish for ‘crossfire.’ CNN reports that Turati hopes the book, for which she interviewed the families of slain victims in 10 states across Mexico, will give voice to the innocent victims of drug war violence and encourage others to “reflect on what happened before and think about what type of society we are forming, with so much suffering, so much pain and so many losses.”

A journalist on the other side of the conflict, Emilio Gutierrez Soto arrived at a federal court Friday to plead his case for U.S. asylum, claiming he fled across the border with his 15-year-old son after receiving death threats for his critical coverage of the military in Mexico’s bloody drug war, the AP reports.

AFP reports that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make a one-day visit to Guanajuato, Mexico on Monday to discuss tackling Mexico’s violent drug gangs and the financial crisis with Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa.

Mexico’s former president Vicente Fox, once known for being hard on crime and drugs in particular, told Time that his views have shifted dramatically in favor of complete legalization of the production, transit, and sale of prohibited drugs. “Prohibition didn’t work in the Garden of Eden. Adam ate the apple,” Fox says. While there have been countries in the past who have decriminalized the personal possession of many drugs, none has ever legalized them fully due to rigid U.N. treaties. Fox says the country cannot wait for the whole world but should instead plow on with reform.

To read about the results of Portugal’s 10-year experiment with the decriminalization of all drugs, listen to NPR‘s story here.

Arizona legislators are moving to pass a bill that would classify synthetic cannabis as a dangerous drug prohibited for sale, transfer, or use under Arizona’s Criminal Code. To read more about synthetic cannabis (a.k.a. “Spice”), check out my story on the DEA’s temporary nationwide ban here.

Sold under the same guise as synthetic cannabis, which is marketed as “incense,” a synthetic drug sold as “bath salt” is flying off the shelves of head-shops across the nation WMBB.com reports. A psychoactive stimulant in the form of a white powder that is snorted, the packaging of brands like “Blue Silk,” “White Lightning” and “Mojo Diamond” all say they are not for human consumption, making it available legally.

In Utah, police shot and killed a man within seconds of storming his parents’ home in a drug raid that resulted in a small amount of pot and an empty vial of what may have contained meth. Todd Blair, 45, raised a golf club when the narcotics strike force entered his house. Within seconds, without demanding he drop the club or raise his hands, Sgt. Troy Burnett fired three shots, killing Blair. To read the full story from the Salt Lake Tribune, click here. To see the video of the raid, go here.

-DR

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Drug Policy, Drug War History, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border

Chemical-laced “Spice” soon to be illegal

Dec 17th, 10 / 12 Comments

The DEA has implemented a temporary ban on the chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana, a.k.a. Spice or K2, effective Dec. 24. The chemical-drenched product was developed in response to prohibition of marijuana — and has proven more dangerous than natural cannabis. CrawfordOnDrugs’ David Robles explores the issue.

by David Robles

Cigarette smoke unfurling from his mouth, 23-year-old Kevin Tighe shakes his head and crosses his arms, the bong-lined shelves behind him eerily spotlighted in the fluorescent glow of the head shop. Packets and vials of synthetic marijuana are displayed in the glass case before him, but he says he hopes all of it will be gone in a few days.

“I will do whatever I can to help get this stuff off the street,” he says.

Tighe works at a shop in Tempe making and selling pipes, bongs and, until recently, synthetic cannabis commonly known as “Spice.” Sold as herbal incense and often labeled as “not for human consumption,” synthetic cannabis products like Spice and K2 have become increasingly popular, especially among teens and young adults. “Spice” is promoted as a safe and legal alternative to a marijuana, but the American Association of Poison Control Centers has received nearly 2,000 reports of people becoming ill after smoking synthetic cannabis products since the start of 2010, compared to about a dozen such reports in 2009.

The spike in poisonings has  prompted the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to use its emergency scheduling authority to temporarily control five chemicals used in the making of synthetic cannabis. A November 24 press release from the DEA specified that possessing or selling products containing the chemicals JWH-018; JWH-073; JWH-200; CP-47,497; and cannabicyclohexanol will be illegal in the United States for at least one year beginning Dec. 24 while the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services studies whether “Spice” should be permanently controlled.

“These products have not been tested on people and because most evidence is anecdotal, it is important to do further research,” says Barbara Carreno, a spokeswoman for the DEA. “You’re taking a chance with your physical and psychological health when you use [synthetic cannabis].”

Tighe explains the process for producing the synthetic cannabis once made in his smoke shop: Employees weighed out 56 grams of Pedicularis densiflora (commonly known as Indian Warrior herb) and sprayed it with a mixture of 40 mL of acetone and 3.6 grams of a chemical he calls “J-dub,” a moniker for one of any number of analgesic chemicals found naturally in cannabis including those recently banned by the DEA. The mixture is left to sit overnight, allowing the acetone to evaporate leaving only the “J-dub” coated potpourri.

Dr. John W. Huffman, the Clemson University organic chemist whose research is responsible for first synthesizing the many analogues of marijuana’s active ingredient Tetrahydrocannabinol, told the Associated Press in November that the chemicals “are dangerous and anyone who uses them is stupid.” According to Huffman’s Clemson University profile, his research through the National Institute on Drug Abuse focused on “the potential development of new pharmaceutical products and an exploration of the geometry of both the cannabinoid brain and peripheral receptors.” The chemicals began being used by manufacturers of synthetic cannabis in countries like China and Germany before eventually finding their way to the United States. Of the 450 synthetic cannabinoid compounds developed through his research, three will be illegal under the new DEA rule.

Although the effects of smoking synthetic cannabis are not widely known, reports include vomiting, seizures and hallucinations. Tighe says he believes it is also very addictive.

“[The shop] has been broken into three times; all three times our ‘Spice’ stash was cleared out but they didn’t break or steal anything else,” Tighe says. “They probably got away with $3,500 of product.” He attributes the theft to a gripping addiction to spice, noting that some customers buy more than two packets a week.

After the break-ins, shop security was tightened with extra locks, security cameras and an extra metal door. A thief attempting to break into the shop was caught on the new security cameras, his face recognizable to the shop employees as a returning “Spice” customer.

A young man in his early thirties, chatting with his mother-in-law over his cell phone, walks into the shop and buys a gram of King Krypto brand “herbal incense.” Tighe says the man, who is a regular, picks up a sparkling package adorned with the Rastafarian lion at least weekly. At an average of $20 a gram, synthetic cannabis can be purchased online, through magazines, smoke shops, head shops, and at some convenience stores and gas stations, raising worry for many parents.

On Dec. 2, parents and community members in Tempe, Ariz., attended an informational workshop on synthetic cannabis hosted by the Tempe Union High School District’s No Parent Left Behind University program. A speaker at the event, Stephanie Siete, Director of Public Relations for Community Bridges, Inc., says synthetic cannabinoids are between five to 15 times as potent as THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

“The effects are not marijuana. They are much more intense,” Siete says. “The bottom line: People are getting really sick.”

Siete’s presentation on the dangers of synthetic cannabis included a video message from an Indianola, Iowa, family whose son committed suicide after suffering a “K2 induced panic attack” within an hour of smoking the fake pot back in June 2010.

Tempe Union High School District Associate Superintendent Gregory Wyman attributes the increasing number of “Spice”-related cases to curiosity and availability and says educating kids and parents is vital.

“Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s safe,” Wyman said. “[Designer drugs have] kind of grown exponentially and because everything is so new, it’s what makes education for parents and for kids so important.”

At the parent workshop, Mojgan Kavian says her eighth grade son at Kyrene Middle School met a boy on the bus who was put in time out for selling “Spice” he says was given to him by his older brother.

“It’s amazing how normal it is for that kid that he’ll tell [my son] on the bus about it,” Kavian says. “He told me it wasn’t a big deal. He said, ‘Mom, it’s legal.’”

In the final weeks before the official DEA ban on the chemicals used to make “Spice,”  Tighe says he will continue to offer the only advice his job allows him:

“Until it’s out of the store I tell my customers whatever they do with it when they leave the store is their business but it’s not for human consumption. I tell them I wouldn’t smoke it.”

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Drug Policy

This Week In Drugs (Dec. 3, 2010)

Dec 4th, 10 / 0 Comments

According to classified diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, the U.S. has lost confidence in the Mexican army’s competence and ability to win the drug war, the UK’s Guardian.co reported. This comes in stark contrast to the insistence by Mexican President Felipe Calderón and his administration that the state is succeeding in winning the drug war that has been responsible for more than 28,000 deaths in four years. The documents show a growing panic in the Mexican government and the fear that it could “lose” entire regions to drug trafficking organizations.

USA Today is reporting on the growing number of women working for criminal gangs in Mexico, participating in everything from extortion and kidnapping to murder.

Meanwhile, a report by the National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that criminals smuggle between $18 billion and $39 billion each year across the Southwest border into Mexico. The El Paso Times reports that U.S. agents have seized about $41 million in cash leaving the United States at border crossings but without full-time inspections of outbound traffic, they have seized only a fraction of the cash smuggled south.

Methamphetamine production continues to be a problem — both in Mexico and in the U.S. Last week, The Washington Post reported that Mexico is now the number one source of meth in the United States. Then, this week The Wall Street Journal countered with this story on the rise of meth labs in rural areas of the U.S. — in part due to interdiction efforts in Mexico.

With drug war violence continuing to rage in Mexico, Fox News is asking why the Obama administration is ignoring the drug war. See Greta Van Susteren’s report here.

Others are criticizing President Obama for not acting more boldly when he issued his first presidential pardons this week. Politico reports that four of the nine pardons were for people convicted of cocaine-related offenses. However Obama did not act to reduce lengthy sentences related to the controversial crack vs. powder sentencing disparity. And Politico notes that, ironically, some of the people pardoned served relatively minor sentences compared to the lengthy sentences they would receive under current mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for drug crimes.

Police and military in Rio de Janeiro launched a massive sweep of the Alemao favela complex in northern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday morning in search of drug gang leaders and their illegal products. The complex, a labyrinth of slums that is home to numerous drug gangs, was stormed by 2,600 police and soldiers with armored vehicles. At least 35 people have died, 174 arrested and 123 detained since surge began last Sunday. The effort comes as the city and others prepare for Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup soccer matches and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Also in Brazil, a surprising discovery when authorities busted a Brazilian drug lord: he turned out to be a Justin Bieber fan. Perez Hilton is reporting that authorities discovered an oversized mural of the youthful pop star and tween heart throb when they busted a man considered one of the areas top drug traffickers.

In Pinal County, Ariz., more than two dozen people have been detained in recent weeks and thousands of pounds of marijuana have been seized in the Vekol Valley, the Arizona Reublic reports. On November 17, the Deputies arrested a 17-year-old boy and seized 12 bundles of marijuana. The next day, the drivers of three trucks believed to be headed to pick up illegal immigrants on I-8 were arrested. Later the same day, authorities observed seven people carrying large burlap bundles of marijuana on their backs near I-8. For a complete list of arrests and seizures in the past week, see the story here.

Soon, a new drug will be regulated by the DEA: the herbal incense known as Spice, which is often described as synthetic marijuana, will soon be illegal. The agency announced that this month they would finalize rules to ban the chemicals used to make the substance, which has been legally sold in smoke shops in Arizona and most other states but which has been the subject of increasing scrutiny and outlawed in 15 states. The federal ban is temporary and begins on Christmas Eve. Read more here.

–AJC & DR

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Drug Policy, Drug War History, Mexican drug cartels, This Week In Drugs, U.S.-Mexico border