Opinion Piece: Fake pot a potpourri of bad ideas

One thing I find interesting in this article is that it quotes a DEA agent who's basically telling you to ignore the "not for human consumption" label and encouaging you to smoke it anyway... that want you to smoke it so that they can say "hey look, we need to ban this, people are smoking it"...

So far we have no information that people are using this for anything but aromatherapy use, which is its intended purpose.

Fake pot a potpourri of bad ideas

Before the Milwaukee ban kicks in, I scored a pouch of fake pot this week.
And by scored I mean I walked into Shiraz Foods and Spices at Oakland and Locust and plunked down $29.99 for 3 grams. Completely legal. In fact, $1.83 extra went to the government in sales tax.
I wanted to see what this stuff looks and smells like. I poured some out of the silvery 4-inch-by-4-inch pouch. It was a greenish/goldish coarsely shredded plant material. It smelled like tea. When I put a match to it, it smelled like, I don't know, maybe some cheap incense tossed on burning leaves. Not an odor you'd need to hide from the neighbors.
But there was no way I was smoking this mystery mix.
In fact, right there on the pouch it says: "Not for consumption" and "For aromatherapy use only."

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Synthetic Pot Banned in Oregon and Arkansas

It was a crazy week as both Oregon and Arkansas decided to ban the crunk...

Synthetic pot banned in Oregon

An excerpt:

The Oregon Board of Pharmacy will make it illegal starting Friday to sell or possess synthetic cannabis.

The products, sold as incense under names including Spice, K2 and Yucatan Fire, have flown under the radar of law enforcement until recently. Smoking the incense has sent dozens of people to hospitals nationwide.

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And-
Health board sets permanent ban on synthetic pot

an excerpt:

The state Board of Health voted unanimously today to make permanent Arkansas’ current temporary ban on the sale of synthetic marijuana products, effective Oct. 26. The board sent its order to Gov. Mike Beebe for his signature.
The permanent ban will replace a temporary ban the board enacted July 2 and is set to expire Oct. 29.
The state Department of Health on March 17 issued an advisory to physicians about possible side effects from synthetic cannabinoids — chemically treated herbs said to mimic the effects of marijuana. Products include incense sold by names such as K2, Spice, Genie, Blaze, Red X Dawn and Zohia.
The temporary ban has spread the message that synthetic marijuana and other illicit drugs are harmful...

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Officials: Spice may be behind tobacco shop boom

Officials: Spice may be behind tobacco shop boom

Seems that tobacco shops are opening up everywhere in Jacksonville... but they don't sell all that much tobacco...

An excerpt:

In the same year the state banned smoking in restaurants and bars, a boom in tobacco shop openings in Jacksonville has some scratching their heads.
According to Jacksonville business license specialist Lee Humphrey, six businesses with “tobacco” in the name have opened already this year — two in the last week. About the same number opened between 1983 and 2009, according to city records.
A search of new corporations in the N.C. Secretary of State database shows no similar trend in other towns in the state.
Eddie Atalla, owner of the Tobacco Country USA cigar shop chain in Jacksonville, which opened in 1998, said the number of new openings he has observed this year is closer to 20.
And he believes he knows why.
“There aren’t any new smoking customers. Smoking is on the decline,” Atalla said. “Their profit is not coming from selling cigarettes but comes from selling other things that bring in a huge profit, such as spice, K2, salvia, etcetera.”

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