Real concern over so-called synthetic pot

Posted at 11:36 AM on July 16, 2010 by Eric Ringham (3 Comments)

From Duluth comes word that at least some people are paying attention to K2. No, not K2 the airboard (see below), not K2 the shipping company, not K2 the window-cleaning firm. Authorities in Duluth (thanks, Minnesota Today) are considering a ban on K2 the so-called incense, which the young and the credulous apparently are smoking as a legal alternative to marijuana. Because the young and the credulous will smoke anything if you tell them it will get them high.

It's a triumph of word-of-mouth marketing, because the head shops that sell this junk would never market it explicitly as something to ingest, just as they would never admit that the bongs in the display case are for anything but tobacco. One retailer's website dances right up to the edge, though: "The soothing K2 smoke is sure to inspire, elevate and enlighten. K2's effect lasts a little over an hour and relieves pain. K2 incense blend can only be called nothing less than the ultimate in sensory delight."

"Relieves pain"? Is anybody at the state Health Department paying attention to this? Without proper testing and regulation, there's no telling what these kids are sucking into their lungs, as was pointed out on Midmorning a few weeks ago. Could be lemon grass, could be paint chips.

Time was, pot heads with no pot turned to banana peels. Supposedly you could scrape the insides of the peel, dry the residue and smoke that. Urban legend, since debunked, says Donovan was writing about the practice in his song, "Mellow Yellow." Which gives us all the excuse we need for a visit to YouTube:

On an unrelated note: Researching this item introduced me to the airboard. I am so getting one of these.

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Comments (3)

The more they tighten their fist the most more slip through. Forgive the Star Wars paraphrase, but take a look at what the War on Drugs has brought us. Crack down on cocaine, people make meth. Crack down on weed, people smoke incense. Put something bad in the media and it becomes desirable. When I was a teen the big fad was huffing "rush", a type of liquid incense that I'm sure killed about a million more brain cells a second than alcohol or any hard drug.

Does anyone really believe the kids won't find another alternative?

This war is lost and so is society's common sense.

Posted by D | July 16, 2010 12:34 PM

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That's a groovy video. Ha!

You know what we did in college? We smoked weed. What young person can't get their hands on marijuana if they want it? I lived in a town of 5000 and we could get it, kids in Minneapolis should have no problem.

Posted by Kassie | July 16, 2010 1:45 PM

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The story is about Duluth, not Minneapolis. Growing up in a small town I can assure you it's a lot harder to get weed in small towns than it is in Mpls.

As an aside, here is the history of "Rush" aka Poppers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppers

Posted by David | July 16, 2010 2:37 PM

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