Marijuana substitute spreading to Northeast | courierpostonline.co m | Courier-Post
Three Delaware residents were taken to the hospital over the weekend after smoking an herbal marijuana substitute, prompting police to issue a warning about the relatively new substance that has cropped up in the state.
Sold commercially as an incense or potpourri under the names K2 or Spice -- Blaze, Red X Dawn, Zohai, Gemini, Yucatan Fire -- it is marketed as an herbal product and labeled "not for consumption."
It generally is sold in head shops as well as tobacco and convenience stores and on the Internet. When smoked, it gives the user a marijuana-like high, experts said.
"While the herbs may be natural, the chemicals they are spraying them with are certainly not," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From Drugs. "That's the danger. It's different chemicals and different levels of toxicity. Just because something is an herbal product doesn't mean it's not harmful."
She also said it is four times more potent than marijuana.
Two Seaford men and a woman suffered the short-term effects of the substance, which include increased heart rate, loss of consciousness, paranoia, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. Less is known about K2's long-term side effects.
They arrived to find the 24- and 22-year-old men and 18-year-old woman experiencing trouble breathing and elevated heart rates. They also lacked motor skills and were vomiting. They bought the marijuana subsitute over the Internet.
"These kids were very, very sick," Flood said.
Thats just part of the article, but you get the idea.
the US makes perfect sense! keep a natural, generally low-risk, therapeutic/medicinal herb like marijuana illegal, and flood the markets with cat nip sprayed with chemicals that we know little about! its like weed (marijuana substitute?) but more dangerous! perfect logic there! its nice to see we're in safe hands.