While K2 and spice is a chemically produced substance to mimic the affects of marijuana, bath salts are a white powdery substance that can mimic the affects of cocaine or amphetamines. "Earlier this month, a 17-year-old in Lexington County was hospitalized after becoming unresponsive from smoking K2, Watkins said. Local emergency rooms also have reported treating patients on bath salts who are so agitated that they have to be restrained for 72 hours, she said."
Local governments and officials have not reported and increase in crime due to the drugs, but are working on banning them in order to get ahead of any potential problems. Across the country local governments are placing bans on the synthetic drugs and the U.S. Drug Enforcement has placed a ban on five synthetic drugs earlier this year.
The problem with these drugs are they are chemically based and are constantly changing. The affects of these drugs are inconsistent and users do not know exactly how much of each chemical are in a package. A person can use K2 without serous side affects one week and experience suicidal thoughts from using the drug the next week.
The move to ban these currently legal drugs are good move for the city of Columbia. It is smart to get ahead of a drug trend that is already showing can create problems. What are your thoughts on the potential ban of these synthetic drugs? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comment section below.
http://times-journal.com/news/article_e2da9bdc-f6b4-11e0-84a0-001cc4c03286.html
ReplyDeleteThis article states that this drug that has gotten much hype of the decade was created in the state of South Carolina.
"John Huffman, an organic chemist at Clemson University, created the substance in the 1990s. He was doing an experiment to produce synthetic cannabinoids and came up with a compound he named JWH-018."