K2 - Fake Weed[views:11939][posts:42]________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 9:40am - oscarct ""] Teens are getting high on an emerging drug called "fake weed," a concoction also known as K2 and "spice" that is also causing hallucinations, vomiting, agitation and other dangerous effects. In the last month, Dr. Anthony Scalzo, a professor of toxicology at Saint Louis University, has seen nearly 30 cases of teenagers experiencing these adverse effects after smoking the fake weed, a legal substance that reportedly offers a marijuana-like high. "K2 use is not limited to the Midwest; reports of its use are cropping up all over the country," Scalzo said. "I think K2 is likely a bigger problem than we're aware of at this time." For instance, Atlanta has seen about 12 cases recently. K2 has been sold since 2006 as incense or potpourri for about $30 to $40 per three gram bag - comparable in cost to marijuana. "K2 may be a mixture of herbal and spice plant products, but it is sprayed with a potent psychotropic drug and likely contaminated with an unknown toxic substance that is causing many adverse effects," said Scalzo, who also directs the Missouri Regional Poison Control Center. Origin of K2 This K2 compound was first created in the mid-1990s in the lab of organic chemist John W. Huffman of Clemson University, who studies cannabinoid receptors. He's not sure how the recipe for what is named JWH-018 (his initials) got picked up, but he did publish details on a series of compounds including JWH-018 in a book chapter. Even before that book came out, he recalls learning that in China and Korea people were selling the compound as a plant growth stimulant. As for where it was first smoked or used as a recreational drug, Huffman thinks perhaps somewhere in Europe. "Apparently somebody picked it up, I think in Europe, on the idea of doping this incense mixture with the compound and smoking it," Huffman told LiveScience. "You can get very high on it. It's about 10 times more active than THC," the active ingredient in marijuana. From a chemist's perspective, that means K2 has an affinity for the cannabinoid brain receptor (CB1) that's about 10 times greater than THC. For the less chemically inclined, it means you can smoke a lot less K2 to get just as high. The compound works on the brain in the same way as marijuana's active ingredient THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. Both compounds bind to the CB1 receptors, which primarily affect the central nervous system. JWH-018 also binds to the peripheral brain (CB2) receptors, which are involved in the immune system, Huffman said. Hallucinations and delusions Since JWH-018 or K2 acts like marijuana, you'd expect to see the same effects, including sleepiness, relaxation, reduced blood pressure, and at high doses, hallucinations and delusions. While some patients between the ages of 14 and 21 were showing up with hallucinations, other symptoms, such as increased agitation and elevated blood pressure and heart rates, didn't match up with marijuana. Scalza speculates either another compound is responsible for the nasty side effects, or the concentration of JWH-018 is too high. To answer this question, Scalzo is having doctors test patients' urine for JWH-018 and other compounds, but he is having trouble getting patients to agree to the test. "This is not something that people are agreeing to," Scalzo said during a telephone interview. "Here's a legal substance that we don't know really that much about that people are putting into their bodies without quality control." And even though doctors like Scalzo say they'd like to help the teens, that's not enough. "Phenomenally, people are saying no. They're afraid someone is going to find something," though Scalzo has no idea why they'd be afraid. Dangerous drug Both Scalzo and Huffman agree the drug is dangerous. Further testing is needed, but Scalzo says the symptoms, such as fast heart beat, dangerously elevated blood pressure, pale skin and vomiting suggest that K2 is affecting the cardiovascular system of users. It also is believed to affect the central nervous system, causing severe, potentially life-threatening hallucinations and, in some cases, seizures. "It's like playing Russian roulette. You don't know what it's going to do to you," Huffman said. "You're a potential winner of a Darwin award," referring to the tongue-in-cheek awards given to people who "do a service to humanity by removing themselves from the gene pool." In addition to the compound being made without strict quality control or any regulation, as far as anyone knows, the compound itself has never been tested on humans. And when it was tested on mice, Huffman said, the animals were euthanized at the end of the experiment, so scientists don't even know how it affects mice long-term. "And mice are not humans," Huffman said. |
| ___________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 9:52am - arilliusbm ""] Is this a warning or an advertisment to try it? |
| __________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:05am - largefreakatzero ""] YOU DECIDE |
| ________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:24am - pleasurecorpse ""] [img] [img] |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:31am - Yeti ""] anyone who smokes something called "fake weed" deserves all of those effects. |
| ________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:31am - AndrewBastard ""] There's an actual pot strain out there that's already called K2. Why cant they come up with a new name for this faux weed? |
| _________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:32am - reimroc ""] Smoking K2 summit is just as stupid as smoking cat nip. Just get real cannabis. |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:32am - arilliusbm ""] [img] |
| _________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:34am - oscarct ""] arilliusbm said:Is this a warning or an advertisment to try it? Neither. I think it is lame. If you want to smoke fake weed sprayed with chemicals, I wont feel bad if you get sick. If weed was legalized or decriminalized people would not even have to conisder this garbage. |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:35am - arilliusbm ""] Salvia > k2 |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 10:48am - Yeti ""] seriously, just smoke Salvia. kids are so dumb. we smoked commercial weed and were happy about it. |
| _____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 11:03am - ouchdrummer ""] Yeti said:seriously, just smoke Salvia. kids are so dumb. we smoked commercial weed and were happy about it. arilliusbm said:Salvia > k2 Ok, so i agree that salvia sounds better than this bullshit, but by no means am ian advocate of Salvia. It's down right evil. I think kids SHOULD do ayahuasca, mushrooms, mescaline, and acid. Salvia is the only thing that i've done that actually scares me. Salvia is NOT harmless, just because it's legal doesn't mean anything. And it's not even fun. Almost EVERYONE i know that's tried salvia has not wanted to do it again, it makes you see everything in red and black. (literally) it's not the beautiful colorful trip that other psychedelics are, it's dark, evil, and if you smoke enough of the extract you'll totally loose control. Not just the laughing silliness you see people do on youtube, but real frieking nutbag stuff. This K2 stuff sounds pretty stupid too, at least with research chemis you're getting a controlled amount of an analogue or derivative of a trytamine or phenethylamine. With this K2 stuff, you can't even rely on weighing it to find out how much you're doing, you have no idea how much of the chemical they sprayed on it. At least with Research chemis you can weigh the pure chemical and know how much you're doing. (although they're definitely not MUCH safer) Just do ayahuasca. You'll be happy that you did, you'll see you're life through total ego-less eyes, and you'll make profound decisions that will affect the rest of your life in a positive way. And it' very colorful, and the body high is only comparable to E or Heroine. |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:42pm - Yeti ""] see i had no issues with Salvia, even with it's dark and evil feel. my brother is big into psychedelics and he endorsed it, so i tried it. its not like i enjoyed it like mushrooms, but i didn't find anything bad about it. i am really interested in trying ayahuasca, my old roommate claims he has done it and really liked it. i LOVE mushrooms, so anything natural that can replicate that kind of euphoria i'm interested in. i haven't tripped in so long, i've lost all contacts in obtaining this stuff. |
| ___________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:46pm - MikeofdecrepitudE ""] Smoke Heroin. |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:47pm - arilliusbm ""] I havent shroomed in a long time. |
| _____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:49pm - ouchdrummer ""] Yeti said:see i had no issues with Salvia, even with it's dark and evil feel. my brother is big into psychedelics and he endorsed it, so i tried it. its not like i enjoyed it like mushrooms, but i didn't find anything bad about it. i am really interested in trying ayahuasca, my old roommate claims he has done it and really liked it. i LOVE mushrooms, so anything natural that can replicate that kind of euphoria i'm interested in. i haven't tripped in so long, i've lost all contacts in obtaining this stuff. 'huasca's visuals are much more colorful and geometric than mushrooms, and the body high is WAY stronger, and much more euphoric. And it's made from ingredients that are legal to purchase over the web... i'm going to call you, pm me your phone number. (yetish) |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:50pm - Yeti ""] i'm waiting for the weather to improve so i can go out in the woods. tripping in a sand pit in the middle of the night in July was probably the best thing i've ever done. i don't like tripping outdoors in the cold, it's too hard to get comfortable. and if you're not comfortable, tripping sucks. |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:51pm - arilliusbm ""] call me sometime with an update on zat situation! |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:52pm - Yeti ""] i don't like tripping indoors either. i'll do it, but the confines of walls are far too much to bear. |
| _____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:52pm - ouchdrummer ""] Yeti said:i'm waiting for the weather to improve so i can go out in the woods. tripping in a sand pit in the middle of the night in July was probably the best thing i've ever done. i don't like tripping outdoors in the cold, it's too hard to get comfortable. and if you're not comfortable, tripping sucks. i agree. but with 'huasca you kinda wanna be somewhere you can just lie/sit and relax with music. Inside is preferable. |
| _____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:53pm - ouchdrummer ""] arilliusbm said:call me sometime with an update on zat situation! yeah yeah, we be back on trizzack tomorrow. |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:53pm - Yeti ""] ah, that i can do. |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:55pm - arilliusbm ""] I'm down |
| _____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 12:59pm - ouchdrummer ""] Yeti said:ah, that i can do. you mean pm me your number? good. |
| ___________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:01pm - blesse‘ offa‘ ""] AndrewBastard said:There's an actual pot strain out there that's already called K2. Why cant they come up with a new name for this faux weed? also, how hard is it to get weed? i know at least 10 different people to call and i dont even smoke |
| ___________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:03pm - arilliusbm ""] smoke and play chrono trigger. |
| _______________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:05pm - blessed offal ""] ive been playing chrono trigger lately. unfortunately not under the influence :( |
| _____________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:06pm - Yeti ""] ouchdrummer said: Yeti said:ah, that i can do. you mean pm me your number? good. already did that. i meant sit inside and listen to music. |
| ___________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:08pm - arilliusbm ""] 1-800-CAVE-MONSTER |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:08pm - ouchdrummer ""] good. It's awesome. What are you doing next saturday night after the show? |
| _____________________________ [Mar 4,2010 1:23pm - Yeti ""] not a damn thing. |
| _____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 2:04pm - goatcatalyst ""] kids these days are such faggots. |
| ____________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 2:10pm - ouchdrummer ""] goatcatalyst said:kids these days are such faggots. yeah, and creepy, leering, weirdos these days are creepy, leering and weird. Faggot. |
| ________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 2:14pm - c.DeAd ""] pleasurecorpse said:[img] [img] YES! |
| _______________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 2:20pm - blessed offal ""] c.DeAd said: pleasurecorpse said:[img] [img] YES! |
| _____________________________ [Mar 4,2010 9:54pm - blue ""] 10 times more potent than THC? Ooooh And salvia's fo' fagzzz |
| ___________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 11:24pm - quintessence_nli ""] I have some of this jwh-18 in its pure form. Its the real deal. It will FUCK YOU UP. I wont use it again, as it made me increadibly fucking paranoid. I felt like I was on PCP. Fuck that shit. |
| ______________________________ [Mar 4,2010 11:25pm - Lamp ""] I'm seriously waiting on the N64 games I bought off someone on another forum to get here. I want to play Starfox, Waverace, and Banjo Kazooie while high. I only did shrooms once close to four years ago, but I did it with idiots and was not really in the right frame of mind to be tripping anyway. I can only wonder what it would be like now. |
| ___________________________________________ [Mar 4,2010 11:46pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] ITT: Lets do drugs! |
| __________________________________________ [Mar 5,2010 12:04am - ronald finnigan ""] arilliusbm said:Salvia > k2 |
| _________________________________________ [Mar 5,2010 3:46am - douchebag_patrol ""] [img] |
| ______________________________ [Mar 5,2010 8:46am - sever ""] Lamp said:I'm seriously waiting on the N64 games I bought off someone on another forum to get here. I want to play Starfox, Waverace, and Banjo Kazooie while high. I only did shrooms once close to four years ago, but I did it with idiots and was not really in the right frame of mind to be tripping anyway. I can only wonder what it would be like now. Get some close friends, do it at your house in the summer. You will have the most fun of your life. |
| ______________________________ [Mar 5,2010 8:54am - sever ""] reimroc said:Smoking K2 summit is just as stupid as smoking cat nip. Just get real cannabis. Negative. Unlike most legal buds, K2 is a mixture of leaves sprayed with synthetic canabanoids (unregulated) that are 10x more potent than THC. When you smoke "fake weed," you are usually smoking a JWH-018 compound, and that shit FUCKS you up. The reason people are getting these effects is because they smoke K2 as if it were real weed, and when you overdose on something that has that steep of a dose-response curve, you get sick. It's no different than smoking a quarter of diesel to your face. |