"Spice" Is Dangerous But Legal In Alaska

Emergency responders say synthetic marijuana should be banned.

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By Grace Jang
Bio | Email | Follow: @GraceJangKTVA

Story Created: Feb 23, 2011 at 5:13 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Feb 23, 2011 at 5:13 PM AKDT

Original article posted Oct. 13, 2010

ANCHORAGE – It's becoming a more popular way to get high, and it's legal. But emergency responders say “K2” or “spice” should be banned.


Experts say more young teens and adults alike are using “synthetic marijuana,” use of which has hospitalized hundreds across the country, including here in Alaska.


For the most part, the ingredients in spice are legal, but the military and about a dozen other states and cities have banned it or are considering banning it. But it's still legal in Alaska—which one lawmaker is trying to change.


“Merely possessing it is not illegal,” said Anchorage police Officer Steve Dunn. “Smoking it is not illegal at this point. If you smoke it and drive impaired, then it becomes illegal.”


In the past six months, police have made at least three spice-related DUI arrests.


The unpredictable physiological effects are what experts say make spice so dangerous.


“There have been at least two high school kids that have been hospitalized as a result of taking this,” said Jennifer Messick, an assistant municipal prosecutor. “One was fading in and out of consciousness. Both had extremely high blood pressure and both experienced symptoms up to 24 hours later.”


Spice is a “plant material” that looks like “cheap weed,” Messick said. “But it's not the plant material that gets the user high,” she said. “It's a combination of various synthetic compounds sprayed onto that plant material.”


Those compounds can be 800 times more powerful than the active compound in marijuana, and cause symptoms that range from red eyes and dry mouth to severe hallucinations and extreme rage.


Because spice is legal, it's easy to obtain it—and it's profitable. A one-ounce packet of a brand called “Space” costs at least 20 dollars. According to a clerk at one Spenard shop, spice sales are “our cash cow.”

 

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