Synthetic Marijuana

[shawmutt]

I saw an interesting article online the other day:

http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2010/08/04/life/doc4c59873c529b1500395719.txt

Experts warn of synthetic - and legal - marijuana

Banned in eight states, it's legal in Pennsylvania — for now — and sold in head shops, at some gas stations and on the Internet. Yet this synthetic and chemically treated substance is potent and potentially dangerous.

"Most people aren't expecting it to be that potent. It's overpowering," said Roger Weaver, who works at Hemp's Above, a Mechanicsburg shop that carries mostly smoking accouterments.

Since the shop started carrying herbal incense a few months ago, sales have been brisk, drawing a cadre of return customers, many lured by the fact that the incense leaves no chemical trace in the bloodstream.

http://herbalmagics.com/ looks like the website, with a whole crapton of small print on the bottom. I can't even find an ingredient list, but cue phrases like "all natural herbs" and "modern doctors can't even tell how this works" gets me doubtful. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Anyone have an ingredient list?

[Furcifer]

Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

None. I can go by the local "accoutrement" shop and find out later today maybe. It must be very powerful incense, it costs more than the normal stuff. :eye-poppi

[dvictr]

news flash... any flammable fiber can be burned and inhaled

[Zeuzzz]

jwh-018 that was the ingredient in the notorious "spice" products in the UK and EU, in its pure form, has potential for a lot of horror stories being written about it soon. A lot of stoners are not that well educated about other drugs I have found. A drug needing a dose of 1mg or less to be administered/inhaled is asking for trouble, 10mg is hard enough to weigh, and 100mg is what most scales will do minimum. We are talking a grain of salt. People that don't research dosages first are going to get a hell of a shock.

Last year at university (pre ban UK) I became somewhat of a specialist on synthetic cannabinoids. They are all different, novel, and crucially lack the THC that cannabis contains that leads to so many psychotic type symptoms in a lot of users (THC is well known to produce a quite steady state of psychosis in pure form if not administered with the other hundreds of anti-psychotic cannabinoids in cannabis).

JWH-018 (ingredient in "spice") packets, is extremely strong, quite sedating, and oddly anti-social (for me). JWH-073 is much nicer, gigglier. JWH-250 and 200 were weak. AM-694 also. CP ones were much longer half life and interesting as they last for over a day and are unstable at room temparature (CP 47,497, and CP 55,940 are best kept at -50c) but gave a bad after effects like a lingering headache for the days after.

In all, it was a waste of time, they are not wonder drugs or any much better than weed (I dont like weed anyway) but something I felt compelled to do at the time out of scientific curiosity, easy availability due to chemistry student friends at my institution, and. Well. It was (supposed to be) my last year at Uni :p

Oh yeah I rarely smoked them btw, I applied either sublingually, orally, nasally or rectally. You should not smoke research chemicals as a general rule of thumb due to potential lung cancer unknown risks, basically smoking is just a crap administration route, you dont get doctors prescribing medicine to smoke, etc.

EDIT: disclaimer, don't try drugs, etc

[godless dave]

So much safer to consume the natural plant - but that's illegal. In fact, a hemp plant with no THC is illegal, but another plant with cannibinoids added is legal.

And I love how state legislatures are rushing to ban it before determining if its harmful. So much for liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

[Zeuzzz]

So much safer to consume the natural plant - but that's illegal.


Amen.

A truly ridiculous situation that makes a mockery of the science of drugs and drug policy.

Though im not a fan of smoking anything.

In fact, a hemp plant with no THC is illegal, but another plant with cannibinoids added is legal.


A lot of vendors online now sell the cannabinoids in pure white powder form and get rid of the plant step completely. Natural does not mean safe. Just as man made does not mean unsafe. Nature and man produce exactly the same property chemicals, when done right, of course.

[shawmutt]

End result--I'm a geek. Instead of running out to try the stuff I try to find all the info I can about it, toxicology reports, etc. I found a lot of info about the most prominent synthetic cannabaniod, JWH-018.

While the science behind the drug seems sound (to my AS degreed brain), the common sense stuff is that most of the "incense" is labeled "not for human consumption" to get around drug laws--but also meaning the companies don't have to account for the safety, purity, or efficacy of the contained synthetic cannibaniods. The other common sense stuff is that (science-based) doctors don't prescribe smoking medicine for good reason--as Zuezzz reminded me. While I would hesitate to take a drug rectally (or at least wouldn't admit it online ;)), oral would be the way to go. There is pure JWH-018 available online, but none that I can find by a reputable lab.

After all was said and done, I spent way too much time on this, for no good reason. I had a nice martini, enjoyed the warm glow, and went to bed.