DEA Bans 'Fake Pot' Products That Emulate Marijuana

As of today, the Drug Enforcement Agency has banned "fake pot" substances, which use chemicals to purportedly replicate the effects of marijuana. Those substances had been in a legal limbo, with many states lacking laws to deal with them.

The DEA says the chemicals have provoked reactions that include seizures and hallucinations, and that they pose a threat to public health and safety.

In a Newscast spot, Greg Allen has more details:

At least 16 states have already adopted their own bans on the herbal products laced with chemicals that the makers claim mimic the effects of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana.

Since last year, poison control centers across the country have taken more than 3000 calls related to the synthetic marijuana products, which are sold under names like K2 and Spice.

The five chemicals banned are synthetic cannabinoids. The DEA says they have not been approved by the FDA for human consumption. Some emergency rooms have reported that users experience side effects including anxiety attacks, elevated heart rates, vomiting, even convulsions.

The DEA is banning the chemicals for at least a year while it studies a permanent ban.

The drug agency lists the five banned substances on its site as JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497, and cannabicyclohexanol.

 

A college professor helped to create one of the first and most famous of the cannabinoids in the 1990s, when he was conducting research on possible medical applications of marijuana.

Within a few years, Clemson University chemistry professor John Huffman's formula for the cannabinoid JWH-018 was published in the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Soon after, products made from Huffman's formula found their way into Europe's party scene. And then they migrated to America in recent years.

Huffman has always warned people not to smoke any products containing the chemical. In 2009, he repeated that warning in an interview with The State newspaper: "Do not use this stuff," he said. "We don't know how toxic it is."

Announcing the ban, DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said, "Young people are being harmed when they smoke these dangerous 'fake pot' products and wrongly equate the products' 'legal' retail availability with being 'safe.'"

Despite the ban, it seems likely that some manufacturers will try to adapt their formulas so they include cannabinoid chemicals other than the five banned Monday.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/01/134164794/dea-bans-fake-pot-products-that-emulate-marijuana?ft=1&f=1003

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'Consumer Reports' Sees Ford Gaining On Toyota In Latest Ratings

In its ratings for 2011 just released today, the magazine chose Nissan's Altima as its top family sedan, praising its comfort, handling and fuel economy. And while Ford is making gains, Toyota has been in a slide, according to the non-profit testing group.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/28/134133118/consumer-reports-sees-ford-gaining-on-toyota-in-latest-ratings?ft=1&f=1003

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Let A Thousand Springers Bloom (Oliverwillis.com)

A few people are emulating the right's nanny-state tendencies by opposing a trashy latino television show: The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the National Hispanic Media Coalition want the Federal Communications Commission to shut down "Jose Luis Sin Censura," a raunchy talk show that might best be described as a Spanish-language version of [...] Share With Friends: | | Lybia Protests News, Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/65528672?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Stand Up America: Palinites to Drive Their Cars and Then Pull Over and Sit There for an Hour (Balloon-juice.com)

FREEEDUM! In a stunning display of Teabilly slacktivism, Palinites are planning to block traffic for an hour in order to - to - well what the fuck do I know what they're doing it for:1 Sarah Palin called the Obama Administration's actions as [sic] the "Road to Ruin"! [Uh, no. The Road to Ruin broke [...] Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/65544689?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Spring Fighting Season Looms In Afghanistan

Fighting typically picks up from its winter lull as the snow melts in Afghanistan. Some analysts say the U.S.-led counterinsurgency is going as planned, but others argue that civilian causalities are undermining those efforts, and may stall the planned drawdown of U.S. troops.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/28/134134723/Spring-Fighting-Season-Looms-in-Afghanistan?ft=1&f=1004

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May We Drill Now, Please?

Deroy Murdock, National ReviewMay we drill now, please?At this writing, circumstances in the Middle East may change between this sentence and my last paragraph. Receive news alertsWhat began in mid-December as a Tunisian uprising that sent President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali into Saudi exile on January 14 quickly inspired Cairo's Tahrir Square rebellion. Hosni Mubarak - who ruled Egypt for 29 years, eight more than Cleopatra - hastily retired when his people hounded him from Heliopolis Palace into his vacation compound in Sharm el-Sheik.Just outside Mubarak's hideaway, two Iranian warships this week floated north...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/02/28/may_we_drill_now_please_109056.html

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Obama Ribs GOP Governors With White House Ambitions

President Obama was clearly having a little fun at the expense of Republican governors past and present Monday at a White House lunch that was part of the National Governors Association winter meeting.

With the likes of GOP governors Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Haley Barbour of Mississippi and, despite his protests, Chris Christie of New Jersey, being mentioned as 2012 GOP presidential possibilities, Obama couldn't resist toying with them.

I hope today, all of you, feel free to make yourselves at home. For those of you with a particular interest in the next election, I don't mean that literally. (Laughter.)

In other words, if you want this, you're going to have to take it.

 

At another point, Obama said something which, if you're one of Mitt Romney's political consultants, you'd really rather not have the president say.

In fact, I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he's proud of what he accomplished on health care in Massachusetts...

It was an allusion, of course, to Romney, another potential Obama challenger, as Massachusetts governor signing enacting a state health-care program that was a model for the law Obama and the previous Congress enacted with the Affordable Care Act.

It was also was a preview of part of the kiss-of-death campaign Obama would run against Romney if he becomes the GOP nominee.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/02/28/134140477/obama-ribs-gop-governors-with-white-house-ambitions?ft=1&f=1014

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