Robert Sharpe: Combat Synthetics with Marijuana Legalization

Robert Sharpe of Common Sense for Drug Policy states that the use of so-called synthetic marijuana is an effect of marijuana prohibition. He points out the fact that marijuana is relatively harmless, and that synthetics are potentially toxic, made by chemists that can keep altering their drugs to avoid legal trouble, then sold as research chemicals and repackaged here as incense.

Mr. Sharpe suggests, and I absolutely agree, that marijuana legalization would combat the problem by removing the demand for these unstudied and potentially dangerous drugs. In addition, legalization would offer adults a safer alternative to alcohol and the “gateway” from marijuana to harder drugs would be closed, reducing hard drug use. Another way I think we can combat synthetics is to simply stop referring to them as ‘synthetic marijuana’.

The term ‘synthetic marijuana’ is double-edged: It gives the users of these drugs a false sense of security while giving marijuana a bad reputation. These synthetics contain ‘synthetic cannabinoids,’ which are lab-made molecules similar to cannabinoids. Because these synthetic compounds were never intended for human consumption, and presumably because of the prohibition of the compounds they were meant to mimic, their effects on the brain have still not been studied.