U.S. DEA to Ban Synthetic Marijuana Sold as Herbal Incense

From The Shelby Star

By Alicia Banks

The popular herbal incense said to mimic the effects of marijuana won’t be legal for much longer.

Within a month, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will list the incense — sold under the brand names K2, Spice and Red Dawn — as a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive category. The Schedule I classification is for unsafe, highly abused substances with no medical use. The announcement was made Nov. 24.

It will be illegal for anyone to possess or sale the “synthetic marijuana” and the chemicals used to manufacture the substance, according to the DEA.

The one-year ban could be extended for an additional six months while the DEA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study the chemicals and products and decide if they should be permanently controlled.

‘I call it a drug’

Cleveland County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Hutchins said the synthetic marijuana needs to be banned.

“I call it a drug because it makes you impaired,” he said. “No one knows if it will cause any cancers, or how many brain cells it kills.”

Hutchins said deputies have asked people about the substance during traffic stops.

“They said it doesn’t take much to get high, just two or three hits,” he said. “Some have talked about hallucinating.”

Lt. Shannon Price of the Shelby Police Department said city police haven’t faced many problems with K2.

 “We are just more or less waiting on what the DEA will do,” Price said.

The Star previously reported Kansas authorities see the incense spreading to high school students. An Internet search on the product can show how to smoke it and describes its drug-like effects.

New legal K2?

According to K2’s we site, the company has two new products not covered by the bans: Sky and Sex Solid.

The site states that both flavors are legal in the military, describing them as “50 percent more potent and 50 percent less expensive.”

The flavors are only sold on the Web site at $6.99 per gram for Sky and $9.99 per gram for Solid Sex.

A message warns customers to purchase K2 only from the site to avoid ripoffs from counterfeit sellers and states that the incense is not to be used as a recreational or medicinal drug.

Hutchins said to his understanding, there are around 120 different blends of K2.