Panel: 'Spice' Should Be Banned As Drug

UPI ^ | 8/12/09

[steve-b]

A commercially available smoking mixture called Spice, containing a powerful synthetic cannabinoid, should be banned in Britain, authorities say.

The product comes in slick packages and is touted as an all-natural, legal high containing Baybean and vanilla. But it also contains includes a man-made cannabinoid four or five times as potent as THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, The Times of London reported Wednesday....

[sinanju]

From Wiki: HU-210 is a synthetic cannabinoid that was first synthesized in 1988 by the group led by Professor Raphael Mechoulam at the Hebrew University.[1][2][3] HU-210 is 100 to 800 times more potent than natural THC from cannabis and has an extended duration of action.[4] HU-210 is the (-)-1,1-dimethylheptyl analog of 11-hydroxy-Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol, in some references it is called 1,1-dimethylheptyl-11-hydroxytetrahydrocannabinol. The abbreviation HU stands for Hebrew University. Per a 2005 article in the Journal Of Clinical Investigation, HU-210 with daily high doses over a few weeks stimulates neural growth in rats' hippocampus region, the opposite effect of drugs like alcohol, nicotine, heroin, and cocaine. It was also indicated by this increased neural growth to entail antianxiety and antidepressant effects.[5] HU-210, alongside other synthetic cannabinoids like WIN 55,212-2 and JWH-133, is implicated in preventing the inflammation caused by Amyloid beta proteins involved in Alzheimer's Disease, in addition to preventing cognitive impairment and loss of neuronal markers. This anti-inflammatory action is induced through the agonization of cannabinoid receptors which prevents microglial activation that elicits the inflammation. Additionally, cannabinoids completely abolish neurotoxicity related to microglia activation in rat models.[6] HU-210 is a potent analgesic with many of the same effects as natural THC. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sounds like this stuff has got considerable beneficial potential. Heck! It grows neurons rather than kills them! What's not to like?

[KarlInOhio]

Sounds like this stuff has got considerable beneficial potential. Heck! It grows neurons rather than kills them! What's not to like?

Super-intelligent stoners? Cheech and Chong quoting War and Peace and giggling about it?

[Nathan Zachary]

"And who ever heard of a drug that was universally lethal to withdraw from?"

Oxycontin

[Red Badger]

The SPICE MUST FLOW....................................

[Zeppo]

Gotta be those Bene Gesserit witches behind this move...

But I gotta admit that Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is a real hottie...

[bert]

How will I keep my eyes blue?

[Nathan Zachary]

Sounds like this stuff has got considerable beneficial potential. Heck! It grows neurons rather than kills them! What's not to like? "

The brain tumors

[Nathan Zachary]

How will I keep my eyes blue?

Tinted contacts.

[Nathan Zachary]

How will I keep my eyes blue?

and lots of visine

[DannyTN]

"Funny, the article doesn’t say WHY it should be banned."

It probably causes schitophrenia/bipolar disorder like cannibas does. I think the onus should be on the company to prove that it is safe before marketing it.

[Durus]

Cannibis causes “schitophrenia (never heard of that)/bipolar” disorder? Is there a scientific study that has gone through peer review that you could quote?

[RichInOC]

[rednesss]

"The Guild will never stand for this."

Neither will CHOAM.

[abishai]

Its no big deal. CHOAM will just create a black market for it. That, or whoever in Britain that is behind this will meet the Gom Jabbar. This could be the downfall of House Windsor.

[DannyTN]

There were european studies that noted a link between bipolar and pot. Harvard identified causation by determining that long term pot usage damages the brain in the same areas that are damaged in bipolar people. You can google it just as easy as I can.

PS scitophrenia is the same as schizophrenia with Louisiana spelling applied. That bothers people with Ortographobia

[Lx]

If you follow all the books, the Bene Tleilax figured out how to make an unlimited amount of spice from their axlotl tanks. Then the Honored Matres destroyed all that AND the knowledge.

[rednesss]

"How come over several thousand years, they were never able to develop a synthetic version."

The Tleilaxu do, read Heretics of Dune.

[rednesss]

"If you follow all the books, the Bene Tleilax figured out how to make an unlimited amount of spice from their axlotl tanks. Then the Honored Matres destroyed all that AND the knowledge."

Well not completely, Waff survived. Though he wouldn't share the secret with the Bene Gesserit.

[Lx]

You’re correct, I forgot about him. Have you read the son’s books? They move the story but seriously lack his father’s enormous skill.

[r9etb]

Hm. Hey, newbie ... are you sure your undies aren’t too tight? Seems to me like you spend an awful lot of time stalking steve-b who, you’ll note, is coming up on his 11th anniversary as a FReeper.