Spice, K2 Use Falls in Legal Weed States, Study Shows

Toxic exposure to dangerous drugs that mimic the structure and effects of THC has declined in states that have legalized cannabis, according to a new study — reinforcing the notion that nature knows best and that cannabis is far safer (and more popular ) is as spices.

It’s not the leaf material, but the powdered drug that’s sprayed onto smokable plants. In the US and Canada it is called “Spice” or “K2” and in Turkey it is called “Bonsai”. In Japan, different types of compounds are referred to as “Dappo”. But all drugs in this class are essentially the same: synthetic compounds that mimic the intoxicating effects of THC. In the US, damiana is the most common herb to spray the drug on, while nearly all strains are sold sprayed on blends of smokable plants.

At least 450 different chemical compounds are now being sold – often synthesized by amateurs, with dangerous consequences. People who turn to them risk their own well-being just to pass a drug test for cannabis.

The drugs gained popularity in the 2000s and reached a boiling point by 2015. According to the ToxIC Case Registry, over 42,000 cases of toxic exposure to spice drugs were reported between 2010 and 2015. Until 2016, spice consumption in New York City was considered an emergency. In 2017, experts estimated that half a million people in Turkey were regular bonsai smokers.

Can the situation get worse? Actually it can. In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned that the U.S. blood supply was contaminated with spice drugs and that the spiked blood could have further repercussions in people receiving donated blood. However, this fear was caused by the fact that spice drugs were spiked with brodifacoum.

Luckily, legal weed seems to be making spices less popular.

What the data shows

The study, titled “Synthetic Cannabinoid Poisoning and Access to the Legal Cannabis Market: Findings from US National Poison Centers Data 2016-2019,” analyzed three years of data and was published online Aug. 8.

What they found was a significant decrease in toxic exposure to spice drugs, presumably because people prefer the real thing.

“Adoption of permissive state cannabis policies was independently and significantly associated with a 37% lower reported annual synthetic exposure,” the researchers wrote, “compared to restrictive policies.”

Adult-use cannabis states were associated with 22% fewer reported quarterly exposures — and opening retail markets was associated with 36% fewer reported exposures, compared to medical-only cannabis states.

“The passage of the permissive cannabis law was associated with a significant reduction in reported exposure to synthetic cannabinoids,” the researchers wrote. “More permissive cannabis law may have the unintended benefit of reducing both motivation and harms associated with the use of synthetic cannabis products.”

One reason people turn to Spice when cannabis is clearly the safer choice is that people want to avoid failing cannabis drug tests for pre-employment testing or other purposes.

CNN reports that the study shows that spices are declining in popularity, particularly in states that have legalized cannabis. Tracy Klein is Associate Director of the Center for Cannabis Policy, Research and Outreach at Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington. “These products are made in powder form and could be sprayed on or added to something that looks exactly like natural cannabis. So in a party situation, I could see that someone might inadvertently use this,” Klein told CNN.

WTF is Spice?

“Synthetic cannabinoids,” if you want to call them that, are nothing new, but one particular compound has caught on as a recreational drug.

JWH-018 – the original spice compound – started out as a research chemical for medical use. John W. Huffman, after whom the compound is named, synthesized JWH-018 in 1995 as one of many synthetic cannabinoids.

Then, between 2004 and 2007, JWH-018 suddenly started popping up all over the internet – often marketed as “bonsai fertilizer”. Most likely, the bonsai fertilizer label was just a facade.

Lewis Nelson, a medical toxicologist at the NYU School of Medicine, said that labeling these types of drugs “synthetic cannabinoids” is a bad decision because they behave very differently than organic cannabis.

The drugs are still popular, and the evidence is in the news. In New Haven, Connecticut, for example, over 100 people overdosed on a batch of K2 in 2018. But as more states legalize cannabis and reduce drug testing for cannabis, spice use is declining.