I'm sure most of you have heard of this new legal drug in the U.S. called spice, or K2 or many other names. It is being used as a substitute for cannibis because it is a chemical sprayed on plants sold as incense therefore not regulated by the FDA and contains no controled substances (depending on your location). Even in the illegal locations of the product they just change the formula slightly producing the same effects and call it K3 and then it is legal in the county or state it was just made illegal in. This stuff has been linked to many serious side effects including paralyzation and death yet it is legal and with the current legal system, it will be almost impossible to get all forms of this drug made illegal. My question to the educated members of vizzed is maybe the time has come where it would just be safer for America if pot were legalized. It has never been related to any deaths (overdoses) and is safer than the stuff we are allowing to be sold legally. And a little tidbit in many of the contentintal european countries where cannibis is legal K2 and its like are not. I brought this up in my medical office class and they said something about it being impossible to tax. I don't understand this because how could it be any different from tobacco? Anyway all of your thoughts and opinions on the subject are appreciated.

Well about pot being legal, I think what is close enough to it is that my cousin saw a doctor for his migraines and got a prescription for it. Now he goes to the weed clinic and buys it legally simply because he has migraines . As far as the K2, it seems a bit twisted to me to have it legal.

thats what I mean it's totally dangerous but it is legal. You must live in a liberal place cuz u definately couldn't get a prescription like that around here for anything, even cancer. But my problem is that it's going to be so hard to make that stuff illegal, at least from what i've been reading it seems that way, and as long as there are people out there who wanna get high so badly there will always be a demand for the stuff. I've never been for it before (I even think prescription drugs are too overabused) but maybe it would be safer for the people smokin the stuff if we just let them have their weed. Also do u realize how much money it would save the prison systems. I think it's something like 25% of prison population is on a nonviolent cannibis related charge. Were talking lots of billions there, not to mention the revenue the country could bring in by taxing the stuff. But my main concern is really the safety of these people, it just doesn't make any sense to me to have the dangerous one legal and the "safer" one illegal.

tRIUNE : Really you don't even need anything wrong with you for a prescription. All you need to get a medical marijuana license in California is 100$ and the OC register lol. The back is full of ads for doctors that charge you 100 bucks for your first visit.



Do you have any links for the cases of death or paralyzation? I had never heard of any and I occasionally smoke spice/k2 or whatever you want to call it. And that would make me not want to mess with it anymore.

tonetone714 : I did a google search for K2 drug paralysis, and found a Youtube clip from a news program (Fox 59 out of Indiana) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQvqeT-7dSo , one news article from the Fox affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/071610-mom%3A-k2-paralyzed-teen-son , and a news article with video from News channel WSAZ out of Ohio http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/103015274.html .

A little more digging led me to the case of Dominique Tate, a 19 year old who died after smoking K2 http://www.wfaa.com/video?id=100386899&sec=552922 . Another teen committed suicide after a panic attack following smoking K2. (mentioned in the video about Tate.)

A lot of the articles talk about how the stuff is 'sprayed with chemicals'. This leads me to suspect that there might be something more toxic there than in the actual herbs. You can refine stuff a lot more in a lab than you can find in nature.

The one with the kid dying because of smoking k2 is full of holes. All they say is that he had a history of smoking it. And they even said they are waiting for toxicology reports.

And the first link with the guy in the hospital, I don't know about him either. He said he spent $2000 dollars on it over 2 months. That would mean he is consuming 3 grams(30$) of it everyday for 2 months which is highly unlikely. A gram of that stuff would last me 3 days.

The only one that seemed legit was the one with the 17 year old. But even that story didn't have any kind of medical report or anything official saying that k2 was the purpose.

I'm sure k2 has some bad side effects but it sounds like these people weren't only on K2.

Aye - I watch medical shows (real ones, not just House), and sometimes something really f-ed up shows up in the tox-screens that the doctors weren't expecting. I put the articles out there because it's better to have more information than less, in my opinion.

Also, as I said, I'm more wary of the chemicals they spray it with than the actual herbs in the incense. It's like - it's legal for anyone, over 21 or not, to buy a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Technically, someone could drink it, trying to get drunk. Because of the chemical process it goes through, however, it causes worse problems faster than regular drinking alcohol.

I'd be interested to see the results of that tox-screen when it finally comes in, and see if there's anything weird in it.

Yea i get what your saying, and i want to see what the toxicology reports are also.

But the reason why this stuff is so potent is because the chemical they use affects more receptors in the brain the regular THC. I think regular THC affects 1-2 receptors and the chemical in spice affects 4. Thats why anxiety attacks are so common with spice. Even i kind of had one but not really lol. I was talking to someone on the phone and every time I said something, I would trip on how I sounded and it made me uncomfortable. But it went away in like 2 minutes.

Legalising marijuana is a good idea. It would at least ensure some guy doesn't spend years in prison for having a joint. I can't think of a single reasonabe argument for why it should stay illegal.

yea i've been researching too, and it may not be as dangerous as the media had first led me to believe. The only documented case I found of pralysis, or whatever, was in lab mice being pumped full with who knows how much of the stuff. And the side effect listed was partial parlysis,no more, so just an eye arm or whole section of the body I couldn't say or even if it was permanent. The freakout cases seem more believeable, I and some of my friends have all tried it, a couple of us did not have exactly pleasant exp. I personally did but we had one totall freak out and one minor one. The substance being sprayed on K2 and most brands of spice is call JWH 015 invented in 1995 by Dr. John W. Huffman. He was doing medical research on canniboids when, and this is the part I've been trying to piece together haven't been able to find the "whole story", but I believe some people got ahold of his receipe and learned how to had a form of alcohol (topecorol?) which allowed it to be sprayed and smoked on any plant. The "Spice" companies did get caught using actual THC derivates in 2004 or so, since then they've stuck with the legal (in most places) formula.

fightorace : "And the side effect listed was partial parlysis,no more, so just an eye arm or whole section of the body I couldn't say or even if it was permanent."

I'd say partial paralysis is pretty harsh as side effects go, especially if it is permanent. I mean, that's losing the use of that 'eye, arm, or whole section of the body' for the sake of getting high?

Put it this way - I'd rather get a call from the cops that my kid was caught doing pot (and was otherwise uninjured), than get a call from the hospital saying my kid had a) been hurt during a freak-out or b) was partially paralyzed, even if temporarily. Either way, they'd still be getting a talking-to when they were safe and sound.

Oniya : I understand what u mean, but tests like that are too unreliable. When u pump a mouse full of stuff things are gonna happen, and too much will usually cause bad things. The study just reminded me too much of why people were saying sweetnlow was causing cancer. No hard numbers like they were hiding something. And partial paralysis could simply mean the mouse could walk right for 10min cuz he was too high.

Well, I don't think that it is right for something like "K2" to be legal, and it is a whole lot better than smoking weed. I mean, when has anybody ever died directly from smoking weed? Weed itself is safer for you than cigarettes, and it doesn't change your judgement anywhere near to as bad as alcohol does, so my question is, Why isn't it legalized already?

To be honest, I really wish that the US would legalize weed and make cigarettes illegal. I realize that they can't do it because tobacco industries have millions of dollars if not more from cigarettes but I have heard that pot is safer than cigarettes and is less addictive because of the nicotine in the cigarettes. This spice stuff seems like weed basically, so I personally don't care either way if it becomes legalized. If it is legal then it will probably be doing as much or even less damage than cigarettes so it really does not matter in my opinion.

jmc1097 : hell yea, take my smokes and give me the legal weed, more fun and it's good for you too.