Repost: Tribal Celebrations
March 17, 2011
Sadly, I am not cooking today. This was originally posted March 15, 2009.
Step One: Make sure at least one of the Spawn is napping, visiting a friend or otherwise out of your hair.
Why, whatever do you think we are celebrating today, Dear Reader?
Step Two: Make final check on materials and reagents. Run to store to get the remaining critical items. Sing loudly to your favorite ethnic folksongs to get in the mood.
stay tuned, Dear Reader, stay tuned…
Were “incense” products containing JWH-018 and other cannabimimetics ever “legal” in the US?
March 17, 2011
A comment over at Brayton’s blog drew my attention. A D. Johnson notes:
A few days ago, police arrested Eric Srack, a business owner in Salina. Srack had been selling an herbal potpourri which people were using as a legal alternative to marijuana.
The comment is apparently referring to so-called “incense” products being sold in head shops, cigar stores (like mine) and convenience stores that contain cannabimimetic compounds. The JWH series (JWH-018, JWH-250, JWH-073 seem to be common), CP47,497 and a few other compounds are ligands for the endogenous cannabinoid receptor subtype 1 (CB1) just like good old Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Natural products pharmacologist David Kroll has an excellent intro to these compounds at Terra Sigillata and dr_leigh has a two-parter on the pharmacology here and here. The summary version is that these compounds have the same basic pharmacological effect as that of THC which confers much of the psychoactive properties of cannabis, i.e., stimulation of the CB1 receptor. In many cases these canabimimetic compounds are more potent than THC in their actions and they are what are referred to as full agonists, in contrast to the partial agonist actions of THC. Unsurprisingly, these “incense” products are capable of inducing dependence which looks reasonably similar to dependence produced by cannabis.
Back to our story…..
The stuff wasn’t illegal until around a month ago, when the police decided that it was chemically similar enough to something that was illegal to warrant an arrest.
In other words, the state government fiddled with the law until it enabled the police to arrest someone for doing something that wasn’t illegal when he started. Are these drug enforcement guys just bored?
As I responded at Brayton’s blog, this is inaccurate.
Pick 'em
March 17, 2011
When people opine:
“You have to pick your battles”
it isn’t that I disagree. Really.
I just always want to know,
“So which battle *did* you pick?”
For some reason this is not well received.
A traditionale aire for the daye
March 17, 2011
For CPP and other non-traditionalists.
we’re talking about cannabimimetic “incense” or “potpourri” products and the Analog provision of the Controlled Substances Act over at Scienceblogs.
DrugMonkey 