Spice is a brand of constructed marijuana that looks like real marijuana or potpourri packaged in colorful foil. Sold in convenience stores, this unsafe and addictive drug also comes in a liquid course for vaping.

Spice looks fairly harmless in its foil packages branded with superheroes, cartoon characters, smiley faces and other colorful images. The drug is cheap and piece of cake to get from convenience stores and caput shops, but Spice is far from safety. Also known as K2, the dried establish cloth is a form of constructed marijuana that is far more than powerful than marijuana. The effects of Spice can include astringent vomiting, psychotic fits, heart attacks and strokes. Spice oft resembles potpourri or herbal tobacco, and most people smoke it. Dissimilar real weed, synthetic marijuana is not glutinous and does not comprise buds. It's typically finely cut and greenish-brown in color.

Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Synthetic marijuana is also sold in vials in a liquid form that can be vaped. The vials are sometimes erroneously labeled equally CBD oil, a benign ingredient found in marijuana, when they actually contain unsafe constructed cannabinoids.

Source: U.South. Drug Enforcement Administration

How Is Spice Different from Marijuana?

Constructed marijuana is a concoction of manmade chemicals designed to mimic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. The chemicals are sprayed onto dried plant material — such as tea leaves, dried herbs and grass clippings — that is sold in attractive packets. It'southward impossible to know exactly what chemicals are actually in any given packet of Spice. That's because the drugs are developed in clandestine labs in China and other countries and smuggled into the United States. Synthetic marijuana falls nether a category of drugs called novel psychoactive substances (NPS). These drugs mimic the effects of other banned drugs, such as marijuana or cocaine, while not breaking any drug laws. Each time drug enforcement agencies catch on and brainstorm to scissure down on a specific NPS, the drugmakers tweak their recipes and roll out a slightly dissimilar formula. Every bit a outcome, there is little to no uniformity in drugs like Spice and K2. The same brand of constructed marijuana tin contain completely different chemicals or more than stiff levels of the same chemicals. In addition, batches of faux weed are sometimes tainted with toxic contaminants, such as cocaine, sleeping pills and even rat poison.

Deceptive Marketing

The packaging that Spice, K2 and other types of fake weed come in is intentionally misleading. Packets are ofttimes labeled as herbal incense, even though they contain illicit drugs. It's also mutual on packaging to say "not for human consumption" and "not meant to burned, smoked or incinerated." In reality, that's exactly what people exercise with the drug.

WARNING: The Truth Near Spice

  • Spice is not natural
  • Spice is not legal
  • Spice is addictive
  • Spice is not safe
  • Spice is non marijuana

Packages of fake weed ofttimes merits that the product is legal — it isn't — and contain warning labels stating that the product should be kept out of the achieve of children. Merely with their bright colors and youth-targeted designs, synthetic marijuana packages are conspicuously intended to catch the eye of adolescents and preadolescents.

Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Assistants

Street Names for Spice

In that location are more than 100 chemical variants of synthetic marijuana, and the drug goes by hundreds of names. Spice and K2, two of the outset and all-time-known brands of fake weed, are now mutual monikers for the drug. Other brands of synthetic pot include Scooby Snax, Mr. Happy, AK-47, Kush, Kronic, Joker, Black Mamba, Bling Bare Monkey, Bombay Blueish, Climax, Cloud nine, Genie, Matrix, OMG, Phantom, Releaf and Zohai.

Recognizing Spice Employ and Addiction

If someone is using Spice, you may notice a distinctive and unpleasant smell. Constructed marijuana doesn't smell like cigarettes or weed. It has a dried, pungent and sometimes fishy scent that tends to cling to clothing. Beliefs is the biggest tip-off that a person is using spice. People who use synthetic marijuana may become extremely anxious, paranoid and violent. The drug can too trigger severe vomiting, suicidal thoughts and deportment and episodes of acute psychosis. Spice addiction is common, and a person tin rapidly spiral into a brutal cycle of round-the-clock use of the drug. In the documentary The Terminal High, people who've used the drug depict horrible first-time experiences. Merely despite their harsh reactions, they used the drug over and once again. Blayke, a former Kush dealer from Baytown, Texas, who appears in the pic, compares the drug to cigarettes. "Once you accept that kickoff hit and realize what information technology does to you lot, similar physically and mentally, it'south completely a unlike ballgame. Fifty-fifty just the odour of opening up a fresh bag was like an aphrodisiac." A person who is physically dependent on Spice may suffer from headaches, depression, anxiety and other withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly terminate using the drug. Medical detox can relieve some of these symptoms, and rehab tin can provide the tools to manage cravings brought on by withdrawal from Spice and other synthetic marijuana products.

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By – Amy Keller, RN, BSN

Amy is a author and researcher for DrugRehab.com. As a one-time journalist and a registered nurse, Amy draws on her clinical experience, pity and storytelling skills to provide insight into the disease of addiction and treatment options. Read more

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