Imitation Drugs Update

About a year ago legislators became aware that there were some “fake” or imitation drugs being sold quite legally at convenience stores. There are two categories, basically, with one acting and looking like marijuana and being called K3 or “Sin”, among other names, and the other being sold as “bath salts” which is actually a combination of drugs that can get someone just as high, and just as addicted as meth or cocaine.

Unfortunately, they can also get people “just as dead.”

Last year Kansas, along with many other states, outlawed the products. Unfortunately, those who are producing it simply changed the formula so that they could continue to make legal sales. Again this year, our legislature found it necessary to pass a law.

Jeremy Morris, the senior forensic scientist for the Johnson County Crime Lab appeared before the Kansas Senate to point out that there was a need to outlaw a lot of chemicals so that it wouldn’t have to keep playing “catch-up.” He commented that, “the new legislation is a completely different approach.” It will criminalize a complete class of drugs instead of having to do each of them one by one. He spoke about the dangers of these drugs. He said that, “you really never know, it really is a game of Russian roulette, at least for the user.” He warns that the imitation drugs might be far more potent than the original.

Our own state of Kansas is the first state to go after an entire class of hundreds of drugs. There are now 17 other states considering similar legislation.

Last year the Senate and House outlawed a pair of synthetic compounds called JW-018 and JW-073, marketed under names such as Spice or K2. At that time, only state Sen. David Haley (D-Kansas City) voted against the bill. He referred to the drugs as “relatively safe substances like Spice” adding that "As our youth and others continue to search for legal ways to expand their flights of fancy I fear they will encounter more dangerous ways than what we ban here." Nevertheless, the legislators banned the drugs and have now widened the net to keep the drug marketers from moving further down the line of numbers to K4, K5, etc.