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.
hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush nancy pelosi
bill clinton newt gingrich sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly
Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/65528672?client_source=feed&format=rss
Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/65544689?client_source=feed&format=rss
Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/28/134134723/Spring-Fighting-Season-Looms-in-Afghanistan?ft=1&f=1004
hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush nancy pelosi
Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/02/28/may_we_drill_now_please_109056.html
bill clinton newt gingrich sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly
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.
February 28, 20112050: Will 'Chindia' Rule, or US?
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Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/02/28/2050_will_039chindia039_rule_or_us_251210.html
hillary clinton george w bush nancy pelosi harry reid john mccain
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/7ahbIWUvfHI/index.html
hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush nancy pelosi