Recent press coverage about synthetic marijuana products (commonly known as Spice and K2) is unsurprisingly leading more people to try them. Interestingly, the drug is catching on with sick people in Kansas, where medical marijuana remains illegal:
Spice is designed to produce profoundly similar effects to herbal cannabis, so it makes sense that patients are finding it helpful. There's still a lot we don't know about it, but cannabinoid research is generally associated with a number of promising medical applications and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the drug has something to offer.
At the very least, I'd give more weight to the claims from sick people who say it's helping them than to the claims from police and politicians that say it's potentially deadly.
Update: Uh-oh, it looks like the prohibition effort in Kansas is moving faster than I thought:
Topeka â The Senate on Thursday approved a bill that makes illegal the substances in K2 that law officials say produce a marijuana-like high. The legislation now goes to Gov. Mark Parkinson, who has said he supports the ban. [LJWorld.com]
I suppose you can make something illegal pretty fast if you don't waste time on scientific research or rational discussion.