The cheap drug spice is on the rise in Salt Lake City — and it’s killing people

We know that Utahns are also using these dangerous synthetic drugs as they would medicinal cannabis – with non-therapeutic, even deadly results.

And when patients avoid “#spice” and buy “Cartel cannabis,” there’s no quality or safety testing to ensure freedom from mold, heavy metals, or dusting with chemicals like those in spice – or opioids and others.

Allow the people to vote to stop such madness, UMA…!

Not only does prohibition fail to keep drugs out of any community in the state, its side effects – as here – are worse than the problems it set out to cure.

“Lt. Mike Ross, head of the SLC narcotics unit, told the Trib in 2010 he worried outlawing spice would lead to a black market. Not long afterward the state Legislature banned the drug.” As did the US.

And as night follows day,”Manufacturers and street chemists reacted by altering spice formulations to circumvent the new restrictions.”

After 43 years of drug warring (with constant headlines of busts trumpeted as “victories”) – it’s a “whack-a-mole” approach at best – with more and more kinds of illicit drugs available than ever. (NTM record spending on drug enforcement personnel and prisons.)

People die as a result of alcoholism, but note that many casual drinkers also died from the ingredients in mafia “bathtub gin” and southern smuggled “Moonshine,” during alcohol prohibition.

And with doctors now limiting pain pills for patients, many turn to street opioids of unknown provenance.

Our “generals” in this costly failure of “aggressive suppression tactics” (used first and mostly only) – including the entire coalition of groups in Drug Safe Utah – need to a) actually look at the best science (for a change) and b) adopt new and productive strategies, centered more on effective public education (not just silly billboards) and treatment programs.

Starting with legal medical cannabis. Which will save lives, prevent many harms and free up resources.

“David Shay believed he was choosing a safe, legal alternative to marijuana. ‘I wasn’t able to smoke marijuana because of drug tests at my job,’ he says.

But Shay’s afternoon delight turned into permanent midnight. ‘It went from being like marijuana to, towards the end, more like PCP. It can put you into convulsions, instant blackouts, shakes.’

Shay became addicted. He lost his $70,000-a-year job, his home and vehicles, rental properties and his family. He found himself sleeping behind strip malls, selling blood for money [for] spice, until he was arrested and charged with domestic violence over a family argument.

Criminalizing spice has done little to curtail availability or use.

“It goes back-and-forth and back-and-forth, and as it does, the strength of the drug changes.

Dozens of analogs and derivatives have sprung up, with some of them killing people.”

Much more in an in-depth article.

PS: Synthetic cannabinoids are in no way comparable to natural ones.

#MMJ #UTpol #TRUCE    

See full article – The cheap drug spice is on the rise in Salt Lake City — and it’s killing people