Category: K2 Incense News September

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — The designer drug “Spice” and other herbal and chemical compounds that mimic marijuana have captured the full attention of state health officials.

In the past year, these substances possibly played a role in one suicide and at least 56 emergency room visits in Alabama, said Dr. Jim McVay with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Monday at the State Capitol Auditorium in Montgomery.

“There are more questions than answers right now,” McVay said. “Our belief is that many of these products are not illegal, but there are children ending up with all kinds of complications. We have one report from a family that said their 18-year-old committed suicide while using these products.”

Gaining in popularity since 2004, herbal incense-type products such as “Spice” and “K2 incense“ are sold over the Internet and in some convenience and specialty stores. They are available under a wide range of names and can offer a high similar to that of marijuana. The products are sometimes marketed “legal pot” or even potpourri and other household products.

Although the federal government, Alabama and other states have taken steps to classify some of these products as controlled substances, manufacturers can tweak the chemical compound and create new products not addressed in the laws, McVay said.

“It is probably really localized,” McVay said of synthetic marijuana availability in Alabama. “There could be one store or one place that has it and the kids find out about it.”

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COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – A Midlands father claims his teenage son nearly died after smoking a drug bought at a convenience store.  Drug experts say teens and adults are using a new substance to get high called K2 incense, but it’s legally marketed in stores as herbal incense.

The 17-year-old goes to Airport High School, and his father says the K2 incense he smoked was bought at a store down the street. “I think store owners need to wake up and realize morally this stuff is not good for people, we’re not going to sell it,” said Todd Vandelinder. “If they don’t sell it, the manufacturer has nowhere to go with it.”

Vandelinder says his son and two his friends took the legal drug to the youth group meeting at Ebenezer Pentecostal Holiness Church in West Columbia, snuck around back and smoked the herbal leaves from a glass bottle.

Moments later, Todd got to call that Ryan was in trouble. When he got there, he says Ryan was unresponsive and vomiting. “When they’re a kid, you know they get a scratch, kiss the boo-boo, it’s all gone,” said Vandelinder. “This, I felt totally helpless”

Helpless because the drug is legally in stores as herbal incense or potpourri. The effects can range from hallucinations to agitation and vomiting. In 2010, an Iowa teenager reportedly committed suicide after smoking the drug.

“Even though it’s called incense, it’s nothing like a regular incense,” said drug prevention specialist Cecily Watkins. “People are using this to get high as a synthetic for marijuana,” she said. “There’s no manufacturer, ingredients, where it come from, what in it.”

In march, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration banned some of chemicals used to make K2 incense. Police say manufacturers simply changed the drug’s chemical makeup to make it legal to purchase.

Todd didn’t lose his son to K2 incense, but he fears someone else will if nothing is done to get it off store shelves. “They need to make this stuff illegal,” he said. “Somebody is going to lose their baby because of it.”

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K2 and other Synthetic Substances Banned in Missouri Saturday

Mary Moloney, Jason Crow | Reporter, Photographer

Springfield, MO — With the stroke of a pen, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon made the sale, distribution or possession of synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cocaine illegal.  Starting Sunday, people who have k2 incense, bath salts, and other substances can be charged with a felony. To read the new law, click here. The bill summary is here. Yet for many around the Ozarks, the law is an infringement on people’s rights. Saturday, Troy White was looking to buy a package of the soon-to-be outlawed substance. “I do it. I drink a beer. It’s not going to hurt anybody,” he said. Danny Helton is another user of synthetic weed. He picked up a package of Cloud 10 Storm, a product marked as incense at a Springfield gas station.

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