Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
I have previously written articles on the topic of medicinal marijuana in health and sickness especially the role marijuana plays in digestive health. Today, I will be discussing the issue of synthetic marijuana like compounds available on the market and are used for recreational use.
Spice is a popular street name for imitation marijuana/cannabis like formulations available on the market. Other common names include Angry bird, Dr. Feel good, Killa gorilla, Moon rocks, Mr. Nice guy, Sexy monkey and Tomcat etc. There may be marketed as herbal products and incense.
Myth: Spice is same as marijuana
Nothing could be farther from the truth. These are also different from the pharmaceutical preparations available by prescription only. In fact, these are imitation formulations containing various chemicals that do act on same binding sites in brain as does marijuana, thus generating a marijuana type "high."
Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Myth: Spice is just as strong as marijuana
In fact, spice and such formulations contain very powerful chemicals that are much more intoxicating than regular marijuana because they tend to bind to marijuana sites in brain much more vigorously. Since these chemicals are different than marijuana, they also have capacity to bind to other parts of brain where marijuana might not, thus contributing extra-kick to the "high".
As such, while marijuana has relatively few side-effects, same cannot be said for Spice. Just as the degree of "high", the number and severity of side-effects varies with different formulations since they are not standardized tend to contain different chemicals. Coma and even death have been reported.
Myth: All spice is the same
The contents of the spice type formulations are variable and keep changing with respect to its ingredients. This depends on availability as well as to thwart the legal restrictions on use of certain chemicals. No wonder, the extent of the "high" as well as the toxic potential keeps changing trying to outpace the FDA regulations.
It is noteworthy that routine drug/tox screens cannot detect the presence of these compounds since the chemicals are not chemically related to marijuana/cannabis.
Myth: K2 Spice and other cannabinoids are similar in toxicity as marijuana
Actually, spice etc can be very dangerous. Most of the chemical ingredients have not been formally tested as FDA would require for drugs. The recipes keep changing and data from regulatory agencies indicates that these sometimes include rat poison and embalming fluids.
Myth: K2 spice is restricted to young folks
While the use is declining in young people, even people in their 60s have been known to use these powerful "high" drugs.
Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
