7 ms·

So maybe I'm out of the loop, but this article never really seems to explain why K2 is so bad and why it specifically is to blame for the issues in the article.

So maybe I'm out of the loop, but this article never really seems to explain why K2 is so bad and why it specifically is to blame for the issues in the article. I tried it about 8 years ago, and it was kind of like being stoned on pot but not nearly as fun. I cant imagine the same thing happening when people smoke pot, so I'm wondering why K2 is to blame here. But I'm not sure, cause there's little information in the article. Maybe I'm cynical but this feels like a drummed up press release for the woman mentioned in the article's campaign to ban this thing. It's almost like satire at this point. "Hey, this fake weed that showed up because real weed is illegal is causing all sorts of problems. I bet if we make it illegal, all of these problems will go away. And I'll get re-elected."

Nursie 11y ago
The hysteria over synthetic drugs in general is unwarranted, reactionary nonsense. That said - within the UK 'RC' scene, synthetic cannibinoids tend to be looked down on or avoided more than other unknown or novel compounds, because they can be unpleasant and (psychologically?) addictive. They also seem to have caused various kidney problems and stuff. The general consensus is that it would be good if weed were legalised so these things just went away. I say within the RC scene, I mean the online scene. Head shops are doing a roaring trade in the stuff.
- fl3x1n 11y ago
  > The hysteria over synthetic drugs in general is unwarranted, reactionary nonsense. It sounds like you have some knowledge and evidence of their safety. Knowledge that neither I nor the rest of the world has. Why don't you share it then? From what I've read and seen of the medical issues associated with these untested substances the reactions seem entirely appropriate.
  - Nursie 11y ago
    I'm referring to things like the media scares over 'bath salts' and the tendency a couple of years ago to blame everything on them. Many/most of the extreme cases turned out to be nothing to do them. Oh and in the UK - mephedrone, which was banned purely because it became popular. Nobody did themselves much harm with it until after prohibition.
    - cpncrunch 11y ago
      >Oh and in the UK - mephedrone, which was banned purely because it became popular. Nobody did themselves much harm with it until after prohibition. That's not true. There have been quite a few fatal mephedrone overdoses in the UK.
      - Nursie 11y ago
        Evidence? As far as I could ever tell there was only one widely reported (before prohibition), and it was misreported by the press. The substance that killed that guy was methadone. --edit-- I see from a quick scan of wikipedia that there were a very few deaths The only one definitely cause by mephedrone and pre-ban I can see was "The first death reported to be caused by mephedrone use was that of 46-year-old, John Sterling Smith, who had underlying health problems and repeatedly injected the drug" It's not exactly a surprise at that point.
        cpncrunch 11y ago
        Not sure about pre-ban, but there are quite a few deaths listed in the wikipedia article, many of which do seem to be caused by the drug.
        Nursie 11y ago
        Post-ban in the UK, well, impurities came in and things started to go wrong. Wikipedia lists a number of deaths where mephedrone was present, but AFAICT there were very few where it was causative. I shall tone down my initial statement - mephedrone appears to have been a relatively safe drug, given the huge scale if its use pre-ban and the very small number of deaths.
- user_0001 11y ago
  As far as I am aware (and all this is second hand knowledge as I stopped taking drugs and moved away from it all about 8 years ago, but am still in contact with a few old friends) the synthetic cannibinoids are all nasty and far worse they what they are trying to replace - cannabis. Far more cases of people losing it / psychosis / blacking it / fitting etc than most of the illegal drugs. As they are easily available, they tend to be more popular among the young (in some areas) who perhaps know less people on how to get actual cannabis. Hey kids, don't smoke this plant, which is actually pretty safe* smoke these unknown, brand new chemicals some dodgy chemist has knocked up to bypass some laws. It is all but directly comparable to prohibition, don't drink these safe regulated spirits, drink this moonshine made in some guys bathtub where the profit is paramount and safety be damned. Yet another case of illegality causing more harm, more problems and costing more than legalisation ever would. *but not 100% safe, does cause issues in some etc etc
  - user_0001 11y ago
    All we need now is some group to come up with the slogan "Won't someone think of children and legalise all drugs" Then some actual sensible progress will be made
zamalek 11y ago
> Maybe I'm cynical but this feels like a drummed up press release for the woman mentioned in the article's campaign to ban this thing. Look, it's not good that people are ruining their lives on this stuff but to a certain degree it seems that you might be right: > “If I weren’t on this I might be angry, I might be hitting her. Who knows what I would be up to,” he said, his words trailing off with each drag of the cigarette. “This stuff makes me calm.” Out of all the possible evils, super-stoners seems like the least: compare the stoner stereotype to the crackhead stereotype. If you take K2 away, what are these people going to turn to (because they are going to turn to another drug)?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

Nursie 11y ago

The hysteria over synthetic drugs in general is unwarranted, reactionary nonsense. That said - within the UK 'RC' scene, synthetic cannibinoids tend to be looked down on or avoided more than other unknown or novel compounds, because they can be unpleasant and (psychologically?) addictive. They also seem to have caused various kidney problems and stuff. The general consensus is that it would be good if weed were legalised so these things just went away. I say within the RC scene, I mean the online scene. Head shops are doing a roaring trade in the stuff.

fl3x1n 11y ago
> The hysteria over synthetic drugs in general is unwarranted, reactionary nonsense. It sounds like you have some knowledge and evidence of their safety. Knowledge that neither I nor the rest of the world has. Why don't you share it then? From what I've read and seen of the medical issues associated with these untested substances the reactions seem entirely appropriate.
- Nursie 11y ago
  I'm referring to things like the media scares over 'bath salts' and the tendency a couple of years ago to blame everything on them. Many/most of the extreme cases turned out to be nothing to do them. Oh and in the UK - mephedrone, which was banned purely because it became popular. Nobody did themselves much harm with it until after prohibition.
  - cpncrunch 11y ago
    >Oh and in the UK - mephedrone, which was banned purely because it became popular. Nobody did themselves much harm with it until after prohibition. That's not true. There have been quite a few fatal mephedrone overdoses in the UK.
    - Nursie 11y ago
      Evidence? As far as I could ever tell there was only one widely reported (before prohibition), and it was misreported by the press. The substance that killed that guy was methadone. --edit-- I see from a quick scan of wikipedia that there were a very few deaths The only one definitely cause by mephedrone and pre-ban I can see was "The first death reported to be caused by mephedrone use was that of 46-year-old, John Sterling Smith, who had underlying health problems and repeatedly injected the drug" It's not exactly a surprise at that point.
      - cpncrunch 11y ago
        Not sure about pre-ban, but there are quite a few deaths listed in the wikipedia article, many of which do seem to be caused by the drug.
        Nursie 11y ago
        Post-ban in the UK, well, impurities came in and things started to go wrong. Wikipedia lists a number of deaths where mephedrone was present, but AFAICT there were very few where it was causative. I shall tone down my initial statement - mephedrone appears to have been a relatively safe drug, given the huge scale if its use pre-ban and the very small number of deaths.
user_0001 11y ago
As far as I am aware (and all this is second hand knowledge as I stopped taking drugs and moved away from it all about 8 years ago, but am still in contact with a few old friends) the synthetic cannibinoids are all nasty and far worse they what they are trying to replace - cannabis. Far more cases of people losing it / psychosis / blacking it / fitting etc than most of the illegal drugs. As they are easily available, they tend to be more popular among the young (in some areas) who perhaps know less people on how to get actual cannabis. Hey kids, don't smoke this plant, which is actually pretty safe* smoke these unknown, brand new chemicals some dodgy chemist has knocked up to bypass some laws. It is all but directly comparable to prohibition, don't drink these safe regulated spirits, drink this moonshine made in some guys bathtub where the profit is paramount and safety be damned. Yet another case of illegality causing more harm, more problems and costing more than legalisation ever would. *but not 100% safe, does cause issues in some etc etc
- user_0001 11y ago
  All we need now is some group to come up with the slogan "Won't someone think of children and legalise all drugs" Then some actual sensible progress will be made

zamalek 11y ago

> Maybe I'm cynical but this feels like a drummed up press release for the woman mentioned in the article's campaign to ban this thing. Look, it's not good that people are ruining their lives on this stuff but to a certain degree it seems that you might be right: > “If I weren’t on this I might be angry, I might be hitting her. Who knows what I would be up to,” he said, his words trailing off with each drag of the cigarette. “This stuff makes me calm.” Out of all the possible evils, super-stoners seems like the least: compare the stoner stereotype to the crackhead stereotype. If you take K2 away, what are these people going to turn to (because they are going to turn to another drug)?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]