`Fake Pot' Said to Provide Marijuana-Like High Will Be Prohibited in U.S.
“Fake pot,” marketed in stores and online as providing marijuana-like highs, would be made illegal under regulations planned by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Smokable herbal blends that include chemicals designed to mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, are gaining popularity, especially among teens and young adults, according to a DEA statement today. Fake pot has been marketed as legal because the active ingredients are different from those in the real thing.
Use of the substances has prompted visits to emergency rooms and more than 1,500 calls to poison control centers, according to the DEA. The products are sold under such brand names as “Spice,” “Red X Dawn” and “K2” and are labeled as incense to mask their intended purpose, the agency said.
“Makers of these harmful products mislead their customers into thinking that ‘fake pot’ is a harmless alternative to illegal drugs, but that is not the case,” Michele Leonhart, the acting DEA administrator, said in the statement. “Today’s action will call further attention to the risks of ingesting unknown compounds and will hopefully take away any incentive to try these products.”
Make Chemicals Illegal
The DEA published a notice in today’s Federal Register saying that it intends to make it illegal to sell or possess five chemicals that are used in fake pot, along with the products that contain them.
After 30 days, the DEA plans to post a rule to temporarily control the chemicals for at least 12 months, according to the statement. During that time, the U.S. plans to study whether they should be permanently banned.
“Until the risks associated with ingesting these products and chemicals can be studied and understood, there is no place for them on the shelves of any legitimate business,” said Gil Kerlikowske, the Obama administration’s director of national drug control policy.
The products include plant materials coated with the chemicals, which have names such as JWH-018 and JWH-200. They are available in smoke shops and convenience stores and on the Internet, according to the DEA.
At least 15 states have acted to control one or more of the five chemicals targeted by the DEA. Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, sent a letter this month to Leonhart asking for fake pot to be regulated, saying use of the substances was reaching “epidemic proportions” in his state.
‘Extremely Harmful’
The products have the potential to be “extremely harmful” because of their method of manufacture and their potency, according to the Federal Register notice.
Synthetic pot has been developed over the last 30 years for research purposes, according to the DEA. The substances haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human use.
Multiple shipments of the chemicals have been intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and bulk loads have been seized by U.S. law enforcement, according to the Federal Register notice.
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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