I've known people that had horrible experiences with synthetic marijuana like K2. The thing about actual marijuana is that it would be a lifetime achievment to overdose on it. Even if you smoked 20 joints in a row you'd probably either puke, have a panic attack, or just chill. In that respect marijuana is a fairly safe drug, especially compared to other pharmaceuticals. If you were to do the same with something like K2, it's likely you'd end up in the hospital.
Naturally the DEA and pharmaceutical companies will say "we'll regulate the dosage and everyone will be fine!" Except they always seem to "forget" that pharmaceuticals always end up being sold on the streets to be abused, and that curious or suicidal people will overdo their dosage.
All this aside, this drug Syndros (which even sounds nefarious) is being placed on Schedule II, which the article says means the drug has “a high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.” Non-synthetic marijuana doesn't cause dependence (in nearly all but those most susceptible to addiction), and yet it's a Schedule I drug.
The article defines a Schedule I drug as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Disregarding that marijuana does have medical uses, who thought that having no medical use was worse than a risk of dependence?
So this begs the question that most everyone here has been asking: why are synthetic cannabinoids being approved over the real thing? They're equally, if not more likely to be abused; they're less safe than the real thing, and there's more production overhead.
The answer, as always, is money.
There's also the more nefarious possibility: that there could be intent to conflate synthetic marijuana with the real thing in the eyes of the general public, causing panic over the use of actual marijuana.
view the rest of the comments →
sorasura ago
I've known people that had horrible experiences with synthetic marijuana like K2. The thing about actual marijuana is that it would be a lifetime achievment to overdose on it. Even if you smoked 20 joints in a row you'd probably either puke, have a panic attack, or just chill. In that respect marijuana is a fairly safe drug, especially compared to other pharmaceuticals. If you were to do the same with something like K2, it's likely you'd end up in the hospital.
Naturally the DEA and pharmaceutical companies will say "we'll regulate the dosage and everyone will be fine!" Except they always seem to "forget" that pharmaceuticals always end up being sold on the streets to be abused, and that curious or suicidal people will overdo their dosage.
All this aside, this drug Syndros (which even sounds nefarious) is being placed on Schedule II, which the article says means the drug has “a high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.” Non-synthetic marijuana doesn't cause dependence (in nearly all but those most susceptible to addiction), and yet it's a Schedule I drug.
The article defines a Schedule I drug as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Disregarding that marijuana does have medical uses, who thought that having no medical use was worse than a risk of dependence?
So this begs the question that most everyone here has been asking: why are synthetic cannabinoids being approved over the real thing? They're equally, if not more likely to be abused; they're less safe than the real thing, and there's more production overhead.
The answer, as always, is money.
There's also the more nefarious possibility: that there could be intent to conflate synthetic marijuana with the real thing in the eyes of the general public, causing panic over the use of actual marijuana.