K2/Synthetic Cannabinoids versus Natural THC and Cannabis

why K2 was once legal, and why weed legalization has nothing to do with it

Written in response to this post by Chris Arnade, lamenting the increase in drug-use related dysfunctions that he attributes to popular indugence of drug abusers and efforts to liberalize the drugs laws:

Chris, the popularity of K2--and other synthetic cannabinoids even more powerful--that accounts for your recent doubts about the popular shift toward more in social attitudes toward more leniency--is NOT an effect of "drug decriminalization"or "cannabis legalization". You've drawn a conclusion entirely opposite of the actual case.

Synthetic cannabinoids like K2 owe their popularity to three factors: 1) natural cannabis, with a toxicity profile less than 1/10 that of K2, is still illegal in much of the US, including Pennsylvania; 2) lab synthetic drugs like K2 initially benefited from the absence of any law whatsoever prohibiting or even regulating their market sale--not because of any legalization lobby, but they emerged out of nowhere and there was no law on the books to address their existence (now there is: since 2012 the chemical class of synthetic cannabinoids has been Federally prohibited under the most severe DEA drug schedule, Schedule One); and 3) K2 and other synthetic cannabinoids escape notice on urine tests for the use of prohibited drugs. Only recently have tests been developed to check for the presence of K2; some of the other more powerful synthetic cannabinoids may still escape detection by lab tests.

None of those factors have anything to do with more culturally tolerant and forgiving attitudes toward personal drugs use, or the existence of legal cannabis markets in some US states. They are, in fact, part of the continuing collateral damage resulting from the irrational aspects of absolutist Drug War punitive moralism. It's highly unlikely that K2 would ever have caught on as a drug of abuse without that perfect storm of being marketed as a "legal" (gray market, unregulated) alternative to criminalized marijuana. There isn't a legal cannabis retail outlet in the country--whether for adult general sale or medical purposes--that has ever sold K2 or synthetic cannabinoids, ever.

I need to make particular note of the third factor I listed, because it's a problem related to one of the most poorly understood "user prohibition" measures of the War on Drugs: Mandatory Random Drug Screening, with urine tests. Very few Americans have an understanding of the reality of tests for forbidden substances: for anyone who uses them only occasionally, they're easy to cheat--with the exception of THC.

The reason for that requires some advance explanation. Urine drug screens are only rarely demanded immediately, or with only a couple of hours of prior notice; as a rule, that only happens in the aftermath of a "safety-related incident" like an auto or industrial accident, or for active duty US military personnel, or people in jail or prison. But random drug tests are required for millions of Americans, whether for their workplace or as a parole condition (it's a $1 billion industry in the US alone.) That's far too many people to demand only a few hours of advance notice. So the practical reality of "routine random testing" is to supply 48-72 hours advance notice to show up at a lab. For anyone who isn't an addict, 48 hours advance notice is sufficient to wash out the traces of almost all "drugs of abuse", by drinking large quantities of water along with B and C vitamins, which have diuretic effects that also color the urine enough to mask dilution.

With the exception of THC.

THC is the only forbidden substance screen for on drug tests that can't be purged within a couple of days. That's because THC and other natural cannabinoids aren't water-soluble, they're fat soluble.

It's a reasonable surmise to say that the most likely practical effect of random urine drug screens is to encourage people who enjoy mind alteration to use anything else other than cannabis. Including "synthetic THC*"--i.e., lab-manufactured cannabinoids like K2, that are much more powerful--both by weight and in terms of their hazardous effects. THC is for all practical purposes nonlethal. Synthetic cannabinoids can poison, derange, destroy vital organs, and kill. The only real resemblance to natural cannabinoids is that they bond to the same neural receptors.

To sum up: K2 is now illegal, the criminal statutes having required some years of playing catch-up in order to outlaw it. K2 only resembles weed because the substance is sprayed on a leafy substance like a kitchen herb spice (hence the slang name "spice" that's often used for the synthetics.) Tests to detect K2 use have only recently been developed, and most urine screens still don't include that ability. The fact that K2 has been completely undetectable for most of the past 20 years that it's been available on the street has gained it an extra degree of user popularity in jails and prisons, and with people on parole. As with some other substances, in terms of its effects, it's only really a first choice for a niche group of users. A lot of people who try it don't like the high. It owes most of its popularity to the fact that it was formerly easy to get.

Final note: for the past 20 years, I've traveled I-15 through the Harrisburg PA area several times a year, sometimes more. Mostly along the west side of the river, but I've been to the bus station several times, including traveling by bus myself. I've never particularly noticed the sketchy part of town that you described, although in the wake of the Oxycontin era I'm become all too aware that many small cities across the country now have one. But that's a tangent for a different post.

[ *THC can probably be made in a lab. But almost nobody bothers to do it, because it's so much more easily extracted from cannabis plants. ]