Emily Bauer, a seventeen-year-old kid, is very seriously ill in Texas as a result of smoking synthetic marijuana. (CNN: Teen narrowly escapes death after smoking synthetic marijuana)
For once this isn't alarmist hype from CNN but rather a report on a very dangerous class of drugs. I'm not one to decry the use of drugs, particularly marijuana which is absolutely harmless, but the synthetic marijuana is exceptionally dangerous because it pretends it is harmless but it is not. In most of the U.S., it is marginally legal and is sold in gas stations, pipe shops, and the like. Typically the ones who buy it are those who want real marijuana but can't afford it or are being drug-tested to prevent them from using it as the synthetic marijuana will not trigger a positive in a drug test. Worst of all, another audience for synthetic marijuana is from those too young to be able to obtain the real thing.
Perhaps you have already jumped forward to my conclusion that U.S. drug policy is what is causing the problem and that is most certainly the problem. No sensible person would ever smoke synthetic marijuana if real marijuana were available. Conservatives typically say there will be no problem if people don't use drugs at all but this type of ostrichism ignores the reality that people do use drugs and having been using them for thousands of years. The conservative position, rather than working toward the safety of the people, is instead increasing the likelihood of injury, particularly through drug testing programs, and Emily Bauer is an example of it.
Emily Bauer's story is an anecdotal report on the danger but the annual statistics show the truth of the story: Synthetic marijuana sent more than 11,400 people to ER in 2010.
My reaction to this story is not simply shock over the CNN report but rather it is because of my personal knowledge of these drugs. I smoked real marijuana for well over forty years with no harm to me of any kind. However, a friend who was on a drug testing program asked me if I wanted to try the stuff and he obviously thought it was pretty good. It had done no apparent harm to him so I gave it a try.
Within a relatively short time of smoking the synthetic marijuana, I was delirious and my brother and his family were putting ice packs on me to bring my body temperature down. The symptoms were very similar to that of a sunstroke and make no mistake about a sunstroke as one can easily kill you. The fact that synthetic marijuana affects people so variably is one of the prime dangers of it.
Note that I never would have encountered the synthetic marijuana if not for a friend on a drug testing program. Further, if not for United States drug policy, synthetic marijuana would not even exist, there would have been no reason or commercial incentive to develop it. However, the fact is that Spice, K2, etc are available now just about anywhere in the country and are in extensive use.
Legalise marijuana. There are many good reasons for doing it and this is just one of them.
For once this isn't alarmist hype from CNN but rather a report on a very dangerous class of drugs. I'm not one to decry the use of drugs, particularly marijuana which is absolutely harmless, but the synthetic marijuana is exceptionally dangerous because it pretends it is harmless but it is not. In most of the U.S., it is marginally legal and is sold in gas stations, pipe shops, and the like. Typically the ones who buy it are those who want real marijuana but can't afford it or are being drug-tested to prevent them from using it as the synthetic marijuana will not trigger a positive in a drug test. Worst of all, another audience for synthetic marijuana is from those too young to be able to obtain the real thing.
Perhaps you have already jumped forward to my conclusion that U.S. drug policy is what is causing the problem and that is most certainly the problem. No sensible person would ever smoke synthetic marijuana if real marijuana were available. Conservatives typically say there will be no problem if people don't use drugs at all but this type of ostrichism ignores the reality that people do use drugs and having been using them for thousands of years. The conservative position, rather than working toward the safety of the people, is instead increasing the likelihood of injury, particularly through drug testing programs, and Emily Bauer is an example of it.
Emily Bauer's story is an anecdotal report on the danger but the annual statistics show the truth of the story: Synthetic marijuana sent more than 11,400 people to ER in 2010.
My reaction to this story is not simply shock over the CNN report but rather it is because of my personal knowledge of these drugs. I smoked real marijuana for well over forty years with no harm to me of any kind. However, a friend who was on a drug testing program asked me if I wanted to try the stuff and he obviously thought it was pretty good. It had done no apparent harm to him so I gave it a try.
Within a relatively short time of smoking the synthetic marijuana, I was delirious and my brother and his family were putting ice packs on me to bring my body temperature down. The symptoms were very similar to that of a sunstroke and make no mistake about a sunstroke as one can easily kill you. The fact that synthetic marijuana affects people so variably is one of the prime dangers of it.
Note that I never would have encountered the synthetic marijuana if not for a friend on a drug testing program. Further, if not for United States drug policy, synthetic marijuana would not even exist, there would have been no reason or commercial incentive to develop it. However, the fact is that Spice, K2, etc are available now just about anywhere in the country and are in extensive use.
Legalise marijuana. There are many good reasons for doing it and this is just one of them.
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