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skatealex2
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Registered: 07/04/08
Posts: 18,699
Last seen: 3 months, 26 days
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Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals 1
#14585217 - 06/09/11 12:06 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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When John W. Hufman invented a whole class of chemicals that mimic the effect of marijuana on the human brain, he never intended for them to launch a whole "legal marijuana" industry.
But now that "Spice" and other forms of imitation pot are sending users to emergency rooms across America, the retired professor has an idea of how to stem the epidemic. If the federal government would legalize the real thing, says Huffman, maybe consumers wouldn't turn to the far more dangerous fake stuff.
Huffman, who developed more than 400 "cannabinoids" as an organic chemist at Clemson University, says that marijuana has the benefit of being a known quantity, and not a very harmful one. We know the biological effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, Huffman told ABC News, because they have been thoroughly studied. "The scientific evidence is that it's not a particularly dangerous drug," said Huffman.
The "JWH" class of compounds that Huffman invented to mimic marijuana's effects, meanwhile, have not been tested the same way. "The physiological compounds effects of [JWH] compounds have never been examined in humans," said Huffman. What we do know, he says, is that "it doesn't hit the brain in the same way as marijuana, and that's why it's dangerous." While they are known to elevate blood pressure -- unlike marijuana -- and to cause increased heart rate and anxiety, to date most of the evidence of their effects is anecdotal, and comes from things like visits to emergency rooms. "There have been a number of people who've committed suicide after using them," said Huffman.
Huffman began working on the cannabinoids in the early 1990s using a grant from the National Institute for Drug Abuse. He published academic papers that gave information on the chemical steps to make the compounds, including JWH-018, one of the easiest of the class to make and the one most often found in Spice products. "JWH-018 can be made by a halfway decent undergraduate chemistry major," said Huffman, "in three steps using commercially available materials."
In 2008, says Huffman, someone sent him an article from the German magazine Der Spiegel about a young man using the JWH chemicals to get high. He subsequently learned that the "imitation marijuana" drugs based on his chemicals had popped up in Europe in 2006, not long after he'd published a paper describing how to make the compounds. The compounds were also being used commercially in South Korea as a plant growth product, and Huffman speculates that they migrated from there to China, where they are now being manufactured for use in Spice.
"I figured that somewhere along the line, some enterprising individual would try to smoke it," said Huffman. He didn't figure that it would become a global industry.
Anyone who ingests it recreationally, Huffman stressed, is "foolish" and playing "Russian Roulette," and the head shop owners who are selling it know what they are doing. "They can read the newspapers, they can watch TV," said Huffman. "They know what's in it. And I think they're exploiting the young people who buy them." A representative of a head shop trade group told ABC News that the products should be regulated but not outlawed.
Huffman, who opposes prohibition in general, doubts that a ban on the substances will keep kids away from it. "We declared marijuana illegal in 1937. The federal government passed the law. Now, that really did a lot of good to keep people from smoking marijuana, didn't it?"
Huffman said that making all the JWH compounds illegal would probably have similar results, but emphasizes that any decision to legalize JWH compounds should hinge on a thorough study of how they affect humans. The DEA currently bans five cannabinoids, including JWH-018 and one other JWH chemical, but Congress is weighing a more sweeping ban.
Huffman does believes marijuana should be legalized, since its effects are known. "It should be sold only to people 21 and older. It should be heavily, heavily taxed."
One of the benefits of decriminalizing marijuana, he said, would be diminishing the allure of its more dangerous substitutes. "I talked to a marijuana provider from California, a doctor, a physician," explained Huffman, "and he said that in California, that these things are not near the problem they are in the rest of the country simply because they can get marijuana. And marijuana, even for recreational use is quite easy to get in California, and it's essentially decriminalized. And marijuana is not nearly as dangerous as these compounds."
The trouble with trying to keep people from using drugs like Spice, said Huffman, is that "people are going to do what they're going to do," even if some kid is spending "$25 bucks on a bag of green stuff, and he doesn't know what's in it, and he doesn't know what it does." "You can't tell a 17-year-old anything, because they consider that they're immortal."
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/legalize-marijuana-inventor-spice-chemicals/story?id=13782613
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Doc_T
Random Dude




Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 42,395
Loc: Colorado
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: skatealex2]
#14585234 - 06/09/11 12:10 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Anyone who ingests it [JWH chems] recreationally, Huffman stressed, is "foolish"
Ok, now can we have an end to the fake weed threads?
-------------------- You make it all possible. Doesn't it feel good?
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: skatealex2]
#14585265 - 06/09/11 12:18 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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The Phleg
Big Dick Chakra




Registered: 03/07/10
Posts: 14,473
Loc: Uncanny Valley
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: veggie]
#14586982 - 06/09/11 06:22 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Damn, he sounds high.
-------------------- You wanna get high? Drink tap water. --------------------
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Retrovertigo
Urban Shaman

Registered: 03/24/10
Posts: 165
Loc: South
Last seen: 7 years, 2 months
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: The Phleg]
#14588430 - 06/09/11 11:46 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Jesus....."There have been a number of people who've committed suicide after using them," said Huffman....I know that weed does not usually make you kill your-self
-------------------- 3 things your signature should have 1) A disclaimer about how everything you say is a work of ad-libbed fiction and should not be taken seriously 2) A quote from some famous psycho-naut like Tim Leary, or Alexander Shulgin. 3) A grand statement about the current state of the spirituality of mankind.
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littleton
Stranger



Registered: 08/18/10
Posts: 440
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: Retrovertigo]
#14588597 - 06/10/11 12:47 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Im not going to lie weed needs to be legal cuz a lot of people who get put on drug tests smoke spice instead to make up for the weed. Many of my friends and i smoked a lot of that stuff for a wqhile and some of it actually made me trip and way higher than weed got me. But there were many times on the drug i wondered if something could go wrong ex. not breather right super fast heart rate. one time i was scared as hell my heart was pounding so fast and everytime i talked it felt like i was fading away, anywars no more stories just legalize it.
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CidneyIndole
www.shroomery.OG



Registered: 05/16/05
Posts: 4,761
Loc: Love's Secret Domain
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: littleton]
#14589338 - 06/10/11 08:04 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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With cannabis, you have mixed agonism and antagonism of the CB receptors. With the synthetics, you have full agonism, with no antagonism to modulate the effects.
Back when it was legal, AFOF was a heavy daily user of various JWH chemicals, and I can assure you that the long-term effects (as well as withdrawal effects) are far more pronounced than natural cannabinoids.
The aspects I find most concerning are the psycho-emotional effects, and potential effects on the seizure threshold. I'm not saying these things should be illegal... I'm about as anti-prohibition-of-anything as they come... I'm saying that 1- They should be REGULATED (to some degree) and even better 2- We need to end the retarded "War On Drugs" so people can smoke real pot without fear of getting steamrolled by the system.
While I agree with taxing legal drugs, I think the "heavily, heavily" taxed comment is exactly what a wealthy upper-class citizen would say-- bullshit. Let's keep in mind that while some JWH users smoke the stuff for legal reasons or sheer curiosity, some users smoke it because it's highly effective and CHEAPER than over-priced high-grade.
Thanks again, John (for the second time in my life...heh) for at least a moment of honest reflection...
P.S.--Suicides? Proof or it didn't happen...
Sure, this stuff can cause some paranoia and drastic mood effects... but I say that anyone killing themselves after smoking this stuff was a suicide risk in the first place.
-------------------- ------------------------ I am me. We are You.
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beachedjesus
A bodypart of God


Registered: 11/16/10
Posts: 546
Loc: there
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: skatealex2]
#14589491 - 06/10/11 08:50 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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"You can't tell a 17-year-old anything, because they consider that they're immortal."
I hear old people saying this all the time about kids. I hope you don't really believe that, because you sir, are a fetus. (if you do)
My friend's friend had bought like 5 grams of the powder form of jwh-018 and Swim was smoking a dose or two of it every day for about 2 weeks and nearly lost his mind. It's hard to even explain the fucked up way it made me feel. Swim was tripping really hard off that shit when Swim was lying down one day and Swim honestly doesn't even know what Swim was doing or what was going on, but Swim was under my covers moving my arms and legs around weird and rubbing my face and head and body and when Swim finally stopped, Swim just laid there, feeling like absolutely nothing was right. It's not worth it.
-------------------- hi
Edited by beachedjesus (06/10/11 09:00 AM)
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shroomgatherer
Connoisseur of the finer things



Registered: 11/08/07
Posts: 1,731
Loc: Florida
Last seen: 2 months, 10 days
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: veggie] 1
#14589554 - 06/10/11 09:10 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY VEGGIE!
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nitramine
Stranger
Registered: 02/26/11
Posts: 3
Last seen: 12 years, 5 months
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: shroomgatherer]
#14590379 - 06/10/11 12:31 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Even if weed was legal some people are still going to smoke spice. A lot of jobs and probations breathalyze even though alcohol is legal, so it's not like they'll stop drug testing for weed. Employeers don't want to hire stoners because of the misconception that they are lazy.
I hope weed is legalized, but the real problem is drug testing. It's a huge invasion of privacy. Employeers shouldn't be able to probe like that into your personal life
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Everlong
King of the Neckbeards



Registered: 03/24/08
Posts: 9,087
Loc: Poconos
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Re: Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals [Re: nitramine]
#14590657 - 06/10/11 01:36 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I've been smoking JWH powders for over two years now.
I've smoked over 200 grams of pure powder... It's too cheap.
There is nothing wrong with me. People get too high and act a fool.
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