Idaho officials take aim at pot substitute 'Spice' | Treasure Valley Crime | Idaho Statesman
The merchants who sell "Spice" in the Treasure Valley say it is meant to be burned as incense - not smoked as a substitute for marijuana. Each jar or package sold has a disclaimer that reads "not for human consumption."
One store owner told the Idaho Statesman "It's aromatherapy, dude!" before hanging up the phone without further comment last week.
But a coalition of law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and members of state government say the mixture of herbs - sprayed with a synthetic compound similar to the chemical THC found in marijuana - is being used, and sold, as a marijuana substitute.
They fear it could cause serious health problems to unsuspecting teens and young adults, and they want it banned in the state.
The Drug Enforcement Agency has labeled Spice "a drug of concern" and says it can cause seizures, high blood pressure and loss of consciousness. Spice use is now banned in 11 states, including Utah.
Boise police officer Jermaine Galloway, a neighborhood contact officer who has encountered several young adults using Spice since last spring, says the scary part is no one really knows what chemicals are sprayed on the herbs - or how addictive Spice is.
"We don't even know what it is," Galloway said. "We don't know the long-term effect. In five years, what if we find out it causes cancer? What if the addiction rates go up? We want to get people out of addiction."
That's the problem being seen in the Ada County Drug Court, said coordinator Mareen Baker-Burton. Drug Court emphasizes treatment - and closely monitored rehabilitation - instead of incarceration for people convicted of felony drug crimes.
"We have struggled with people in Drug Court using Spice - it's been a huge issue for any addict, since it is so available," Baker-Burton said.
A recently developed urinalysis test can now detect Spice and other synthetic cannabinoids (the active components of cannabis, or marijuana), Baker said.
"We've had our share of people using it," Baker-Burton said. "Now some of those people are reporting things like kidney pain, liver pain and lung issues."
POLICE CONCERNED KIDS CAN GET IT EASILY
Prices vary, but Spice, also commonly called "K2," is being sold in the Boise area for around $10 to $20 a gram - not too different from what police say is the street cost of marijuana.
Police say they have been encountering more young adults who freely admit to using the synthetic cannabinoid substance because it is legal.
That may not last long.
Sharon Burke, the program manager for the Idaho Office of Drug Policy, is part of a group working with the Idaho Board of Pharmacy to make the possession or sale of Spice illegal.
Burke said that group feels confident they can persuade the Board of Pharmacy to adopt a temporary rule to place the synthetic cannabinoids used in Spice on the controlled substances list by October. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter would have to approve that.
Then it would be up to the Idaho Legislature to make the ban permanent.
CANYON COUNTY GETS AGGRESSIVE
In late August, Canyon County Prosecutor John Bujak told law enforcement agencies he works with to charge any juveniles found with Spice with a misdemeanor count of possession of inhalants by a minor.
While Spice is not an inhalant like Freon, spray paint, or glue, which the statute covers, Bujak suspects he can use the law to prosecute juvenile violators until the Legislature adds Spice to its list of banned substances. Bujak said he has charged, or is about to charge, three juveniles caught using Spice by their probation officers.
Ada County prosecutors say they are not sure if charging spice possession under the inhalant statute would work.
They plan to help lobby the Legislature to add Spice to the controlled substances list and ban its sale or possession, Deputy Prosecutor Heather Reilly said.
Bujak said he will also charge any retailer found to be selling Spice to juveniles with a misdemeanor count of encouraging violations of the Juvenile Corrections Act. No store owners had been charged as of Wednesday.
SELLING SPICE
There are at least a dozen stores in the Treasure Valley that sell Spice, which along with "K2" is also sold under the names "Purple Passion," "Train Wreck," "Genie," "Ultra," "Summit," "Yucatan Gold," and various other names.
Employees of many of those stores declined comment, other than to say they didn't sell to anyone under the age of 18 - and that the substance is legal and is only supposed to be used as incense.
Spice is not sold just in smoke shops. Among the businesses in the Treasure Valley selling Spice are a mixed martial arts supply store, an incense shop, and a legal document business.
James Graham, a partner for "Spice World" - a business inside a motorcycle supply shop on Fairview Avenue - said the only reason he sells the product is because it is so lucrative.
Graham said he can sell as much as $300 worth a day.
And if Spice is made illegal? "I'll take it out that day. I'd get rid of hit immediately, and fill that case with motorcycle parts," Graham said.
HOW UNHEALTHY AND WIDESPREAD IS IT?
Doctors at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center emergency room in Boise say they get about two cases a week where people admitted to using Spice, but the symptoms vary widely.
For instance, one person who checked into the ER recently reported symptoms of extreme lethargy while another person who admitted to using Spice was extremely agitated, Saint Al's spokeswoman Jennifer Krajnik said.
While some stories have circulated on the Internet about kids being brought into emergency rooms with seizures, officials with Saint Al's and St. Luke's Boise Medical Center say they are not aware of any such serious Spice-related cases - but also say it is possible they have treated people while not knowing those people used Spice.
Boise and Meridian police officials say they are just now starting to log how often they encounter evidence of Spice use when being sent out on calls or investigating reports of intoxication.
Police say references to Spice only recently started showing during their criminal investigations this summer.
"The department does not currently have any quantifiable stats where (Spice) might be involved because it is not illegal," Boise police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said.
Spice use recently came up in a DUI case, where a driver admitted to smoking the substance along with marijuana, Hightower said, and some patrol and school resource officers have reported hearing about it during investigations.
"One interesting thing officers have found is that people who are using it don't seem to be afraid to tell officers about it because they know it is not illegal," Hightower said.
Meridian police say they encountered a handful of young adults this summer who freely told officers they were smoking Spice because it was legal.
"We talked to some (teens) who almost seemed proud of it," Meridian police Lt. John Overton said. "We have made this a hot-button issue in our community. We want to get ahead on this, be aggressive with the education, so parents and kids know this can cause some real health problems."
Patrick Orr: 373-6619
"'One interesting thing officers have found is that people who are using it don't seem to be afraid to tell officers about it because they know it is not illegal,' Hightower said", which illustrates one of the biggest problems with current drug laws, that they actively work against getting education and treatment for users with addiction issues because they're afraid to admit to use, let alone abuse. I'd even go one step further. Because people who use illegal substances can't freely admit to that use, they're required to create a false identity in at least parts of their lives. Doing that on a regular basis makes it easier to deny or at least harder to accept, when use becomes abuse, that there's any kind of issue that needs addressing. "I'm creating the illusion of a normal, drug-free life to those outside myself, therefore I must be in control of my habit." Dangerous thinking, and a natural consequence of any life in which the lie is key.
The statement is also made that statistics regarding the role of Spice in various issues are hard to come by because it's not illegal, but that doesn't seem to hold when one considers that numbers on alcohol and nicotine use and their effects are far easier to come by than real stats on any kind of illegal substance use. Taken with the fact that users of Spice and other legal substances will under most circumstances freely admit their use it follows that, in fact, better statistics could be obtained without punitive substance-use laws than ever will be with them.
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