If anyone hasn't heard yet about the exciting new drug that's just like pot, but won't make you fail a drug test or get you arrested,
they're about to find out. The hype surrounding synthetic marijuana products, commonly known as Spice or K2, is growing and it's just a matter of time before the national hysteria kicks into full gear.
This isn't the fake pot sold in
High Times that doesn't get you high, and it's not Salvia that gives you terrifying hallucinations. Its effects are mild, pleasant, and remarkably familiar to the millions of Americans who already enjoy marijuana. This is the closest thing to legal marijuana anyone's ever seen in most parts of the country, and I have a feeling we're going to be talking about it a lot this year.
Unfortunately, Spice's appeal could quickly become its downfall, given the strange drug war rule that a substance must be bad if it makes people feel good. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have a serious conversation about sensible regulations instead of the frenzied panic we've all come to expect when a new drug makes headlines?
"A 10-year-old child could walk into a head shop and buy it," said West Plains Detective Shawn Rhoads. "It's not a tobacco, it's not regulated by anything. It would be like sending my 10-year-old son into Wal-Mart to buy potpourri." [AP]
It really shouldnât be necessary to explain that nobody's selling Spice to children, but yes, there is a need for new policies to clarify where and to whom this product should be made available. We have an opportunity to make smart choices about how to deal with this, and we can't let the predictable anxieties of cops and legislators trainwreck the process through premature prohibition.
Research into the drug's effects and possible risks is critical to protecting public health, but it's also an essential prerequisite to any discussion of making this illegal across the board. It's incredible that we've already got legislators in two states making moves to put people in jail over this stuff and they have no clue whether it's even remotely dangerous. Can't we at least indulge the pretext of some sort of scientific process here?
