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SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Synthetic pot dangers hit home

By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
   Two Kendall Park men suffered an adverse reaction from smoking a synthetic version of marijuana last weekend, causing them to be hospitalized, according to police.
   Police were summoned to a Savage Road residence about 9:30 p.m. May 13 by two young men who reported an adverse reaction to smoking a substance known as K-2, a synthetic product that can emulate smoking marijuana, Sgt. James Ryan said.
   When officers arrived, one of the men could not stop moving around the front yard of the residence while the other was eating grass from the lawn and throwing up, according to police.
   The Kendall Park First Aid Squad took both unidentified men, who police said were in their 20s, to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where they were admitted for evaluation, police said.
   As of Wednesday, Sgt. Ryan could not say if the men were still in the hospital, but did say no charges were filed in the incident because there are no state laws governing the possession or use of the substances at this time.
   The men told police they bought the “legal marijuana” in New Brunswick, but started feeling odd after smoking it.
   K-2, also called Spice, Blaze, Red X Dawn Bliss, Black Mamba, Bombay Blue, Fake Weed, Genie or Zoh, is a mixture of herbs and spices that is chemically treated with a synthetic compound that mimics the chemical THC, which causes the psychological reactions from smoking natural marijuana, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration website.
   Last fall, the DEA put these synthetic substances on its most restrictive list and used its emergency powers to categorize it as a controlled substance this spring, according to a March 1 press release from the agency.
   The federal move makes it illegal to make or sell the substance, according to the DEA.
   According to the release, the agency has received numerous reports from police, hospitals and poison control centers regarding the products, and 20 states now have banned them.
   ”There are still remnants of sales,” said Angelo Valente, executive director of the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey.
   Mr. Valente said the products still may be out in some retail outlets such as smoke shops, but the sale is no longer legal.
   ”Banning it does not stop the distribution of K-2 or any drug for that matter,” Mr. Valente said.
   Mr. Valente said there are studies being done to see what the long-term effects of these substances are on the human body, but right now, not much is known.
   ”Individuals need to become aware about how dangerous these substances are,” Mr. Valente said.
   New Jersey is the first state in the nation to have an educational campaign about these substances and the potential dangers of using them, Mr. Valente said.
   It is not just anti-drug groups warning people about these synthetic pot substitutes.
   Allen St. Piere, executive director of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), a Washington, D.C.-based lobby organization to legalize and regulate natural or botanical marijuana, said his organization predicted substances like this would emerge years ago.
   ”We predicted that if the government didn’t legalize and regulate botanical marijuana, synthetic analogs would come out by the dozens,” Mr. St. Pierre said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “They (synthetics) bring a greater health and public safety risks.”
   Mr. St. Pierre said keeping natural marijuana illegal would only help create a new black market for synthetic substances once they are banned as well.
   ”Now there are even special lobbyists for synthetics,” Mr. St. Pierre said.
   Mr. St. Pierre said these type of substances are more popular among members of the military and other groups of people that frequently are tested for drugs because there are no tests to show if these are in your system unlike the testing for THC in marijuana that can remain in the system for weeks or months after smoking it.