Filed by Gail Banzet in Feature, Health, Local News, News, Science.
February 26, 2010
 

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Local law enforcement officials and Oklahoma’s Bureau of Narcotics are constantly fighting new drugs. From meth to prescription pills, it’s an uphill battle to keep these substances off the streets. Now state officials are bracing for another drug called “spice” or “K2” – a synthetic form of marijuana popular in Oklahoma’s neighbor to the north.

K2 is the Kansas brand of manufactured marijuana. Kansas police officers first learned of the synthetic form of pot this past fall. It’s legally sold as incense and undetectable on a basic drug test. Marketed as “spice” in Europe, it produces the same high as regular marijuana, and now it’s spreading in the states. Jeremy Morris is a forensic scientist at the Johnson County crime lab in Mission, Kansas.

“What we can tell, it probably started in Kansas. Missouri it’s going crazy now. So Kansas and Missouri, it’s an issue, northern Arkansas, it’s an issue,” Morris said. “It’s also an issue in Las Vegas, Maine, Baltimore, Washington D.C., North Carolina and Florida. If you don’t think that Oklahoma’s already got K2 in it, you’re probably fooling yourself.”

Morris said K2 is sold in shops that dance around the legal line of tobacco products. Compounds called JWH cannabanoids are added to regular insence and produce a high just like marijuana. The drug is relatively new but preliminary reports say it can cause anxiety, paranoia, rapid heartbeat and unconsciousness. As to who is manufacturing K2, Morris said that’s an ongoing investigation.

“The only purpose of putting the JWH into the K2, is to get somebody high,” Morris said.

The Kansas state legislature convened in mid-January, and a bill to ban the street possession of K2 was one of the first measures lawmakers considered. It’s now a governor’s signature away from becoming law, but Oklahoma’s legislature isn’t too far behind.

On Wednesday, HB 3241 passed out of committee unanimously at the state capitol. Just like Kansas, the Oklahoma bill bans K2 placing it in the same category as other drugs such as meth, marijuana, and cocaine. Representative David Derby is sponsoring the bill.

“This allows our law enforcement another tool to combat this problem, and it allows our court systems an avenue to charge people,” he said.

Derby said the bill is more of a preventative measure for the state of Oklahoma. Mark Woodward with the state Bureau of Narcotics said it’s better to take action now than to wait until the problem is widespread.

“By no means is it epidemic or rampant through our schools, and we don’t want to alarm parents, but we also aren’t going to wait till it reaches that point to do something about it,” he said.

Woodward said K2 and other similar herbal supplements are more attractive to teenagers because they’re more accessible. Kids talk at school, they search the internet and they order these drugs thinking they’re safer because they’re deemed “legal.”

“Drugs like meth and marijuana, you still have to be very careful how you buy it, otherwise you can get arrested so you still have to sneak around,” Woodward said. “With drugs like K2 or spice as they call it, it’s a click of a mouse and it’s sent to you in the mail.”

For many of these substances, the effects and dangers are unknown so along with Oklahoma’s HB 3241, Woodward said the Bureau of Narcotics is focusing on drug education. Parents need to pay attention to what their kids are talking and writing about and what Web sites they’re visiting.

“Our jobs as law enforcement as well as a parent gets more difficult every day as somebody puts two new chemicals together, gives it a name, gives it a price tag and puts it out on the streets or on the internet,” Woodward said.

Representative David Derby said he expects House Bill 3241 to receive a vote on the House floor some time next week. For KOSU News, I’m Gail Banzet.