Police: Using K2 like playing Russian roulette

Substance banned in Arkansas, on Texas side

Synthetic marijuana is illegal in Arkansas, but as Texas lawmakers work to keep it criminalized, those marketing the man-made drug work just as hard to make slight changes in chemical structure in an effort to bypass Texas law, according to local authorities.

Commonly referred to as K2, fake bake, potpourri, incense and spice, synthetic marijuana is marketed as a safe, “natural” alternative to marijuana, said Shawn Vaughn, Texarkana, Texas, Police Department spokesman.

Vaughn said he believes the substance is anything but safe and that the colorful packaging, often used to market the drug, seems geared toward appealing to children and teens.

“I think synthetic marijuana may be one of the scariest drugs out there,” Vaughn said. “Using this drug is very much like playing Russian roulette.”

The city of Texarkana, Texas, seems to agree, as an ordinance was passed in 2010 to prohibit “any other synthetic cannabinoid.”

Since the city ordinance allowed for a more general wording to keep the designer drug out of Texarkana, Vaughn said this has kept local “head shops” and convenience stores from being able to sell K2 under the guise of slightly altering chemical makeup to skirt Texas law—which is far more specific in terms of what it is being outlawed.

“With the Legislature only meeting every two years, Texas seems to have really struggled to keep up with this growing problem at the state level,” Vaughn explained. “When the Legislature has made a synthetic substance illegal, the manufacturers will simply make a slight change in the chemical makeup. Because the resulting substance is not specifically listed in the Health and Safety Code, it is (technically) not an illegal substance, and there is basically nothing that we can do about it until the next legislative session.

“Of course, the next mixture that we don’t even know about yet is probably already waiting to be rolled out to try to get around any new law.”

Nash, Texas, issued an ordinance similar to the one in Texarkana, Texas.

However, like with any other drug, this does not stop criminals from peddling the illegal substance. Local doctors have recently told Gazette staff that emergency rooms see patients daily who have used K2, which they say can cause a variety of deadly, adverse reactions— including brain death. Vaughn said officers have reportedly seen it cause “really bizarre behavior.”

“Synthetic marijuana is not even close to being the same drug as marijuana. Its name, which is utterly misleading, is where the similarity ends. With a potency of 3 to 5 times that of marijuana, it can be deadly,” Vaughn said. “Anyone caught selling or possessing synthetic marijuana here can be issued a citation for a Class C misdemeanor and subject to a fine in municipal court.”

Texarkana, Ark., Police Department spokeswoman Officer Kristi Mitchell said that in Arkansas, it is illegal to possess K2, and the drug is often purchased online through Websites that come from an unknown manufacturer overseas.

“There seems to be a huge misconception that if you purchase something online that it must not be illegal,” Mitchell said. “This is, again, false. Possession of this substance, due to any means, is illegal in Arkansas.”

Like Vaughn, Mitchell is concerned with the dangerous unpredictability of the deadly drug that has been marketed as a “natural” substance, though its chemical makeup is often unknown to the user.

“Synthetic marijuana is a highly dangerous drug that can turn deadly with the first use,” Mitchell warns.