As the legislative session wound down mid-April, so-called “legal weed” got the boot under a bill that passed the State Senate. Following the lead in other states, Alaskans will be prohibited from buying the products this summer.
Sold as incense, K-2 and Spice (two brand names) were simply herbs coated with legal chemicals meant to imitate the high from marijuana. Users thought they could smoke these products safely, but unlike the marijuana they replace, these chemicals have led to a rash of emergency room visits and some deaths. They can cause an elevated heart rate, hallucinations and vomiting as well.
Although the DEA is investigating whether or not to make the five popular “fake pot” chemicals illegal all across the US, clever chemists will continue to create slightly different, legal alternatives. The answer so far has been regulation at the state level, but there is still a lag between when a product is marketed and when it can be withdrawn through regulation.
The Bill, HB-7, puts synthetic marijuana style products into the 3A class of controlled substances in Alaska. According to one legislator, “We heard from a businessman on the Kenai Peninsula who sells this product in his shop, and said that he’s selling close to $40,000 per month of this material. He said it was mostly to guys pulling up in trucks with gun racks. He took them to be North Slope workers, who were looking to avoid the drug testing provisions that they impose there.”
For workers who get drug tests, these products seemed like an ideal solution – a way to get high that wouldn’t get them fired. The dangers were either unknown or waived away. Thankfully, now that the legislature has taken action, we can put this one behind us.
