Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a state-sponsored Synthetic Drugs Awareness seminar.
Without a reservation but spotting a few empty chairs, I asked for and was given a seat.
Judging by the sign-in sheet, almost all attendees were state employees, benefactors of the War On Drugs (WOD).
Candy, the seminar leader, was young, great smile, comfortable in front of the room. Her expertise on the topic of synthetic drugs, however, left much to be desired. If she were really an expert, why were there so many inconsistencies, half-truths and errors of omission in her presentation?
In fact, during the seminar, experts who actually know facts about drugs, like Dr. Alexander Shulgin, were ridiculed.
After Candy mentioned Dr. Shulgin and his massive body of work, all the while shaking her head with a pitying smile, the social worker (according to her name tag) sitting across from me, muttered, “Idiot.”
Idiot? Really. Dr. Shulgin knows more in the tip of his pinky about drugs and their effects on human beings than this woman will know in her lifetime, particularly if all she ever learns is from state-sponsored seminars. And she calls him an idiot?
Do I sound a tad peeved? You betcha. Who do you think is paying for all this? Not just the seminar but the salaries and benefits and pensions of every government employee in that room. The least they could do is a) get it right and b) have some respect for the truth even if it’s inconvenient.
Are synthetic drugs harmless? Nobody really knows. No studies have ever been done on them. As with alcohol, some users have had bad experiences, some life-threatening. A very few people have died. Thousands more die from alcohol use… but we tried alcohol prohibition, remember? It didn’t work.
Meanwhile, since 2000, hundreds of thousands of teens have used synthetic drugs with no negative side effects at all, making it safer than aspirin. No mention made of that. Why not? It’s a FACT.
Picking Apart the Re-Education
Following are a few of the seminar’s inconsistencies, half-truths and omissions which I discovered by doing a little research. Research Candy should have done.
- “People who suggest that one can attain spiritual and intellectual enlightenment from drug use are crazies,” Candy said early in the presentation. This is opinion, not fact. I’ll skip mentioning the centuries of learned spiritual leaders who have used drugs for exactly this purpose.
- According to her data, 13% of users who ended up in an ER said they had suicidal tendencies. Candy implied that synthetic drugs increase suicidal tendencies. However, there is zero evidence of this. There IS evidence that people who have suicidal tendencies tend to use drugs and alcohol. There is also evidence that “suicidal behavior among college students is lower where the price of beer is higher.” Why not ban cheap beer?
- She showed the “crazy teen on bath salts” video, again implying that this behavior is possible for anyone using bath salts. Not true. Excited delirium occurs mostly with men who have a history of serious mental illness and/or acute or chronic drug abuse. That’s hardly anyone.
- Users experiencing excited delirium can exhibit “superhuman, unexpected physical strength.” No proof of this either. “Superhuman strength” claims have been made about almost every illegal drug (see video below).
- One slide read: “No legitimate use — recreational drug.” This justifies making it illegal? What are the legitimate uses for whiskey, donuts, and caffeine?
- Another slide stated that we need to “understand the correlation between synthetic drug use and high risk behaviors in teens,” high risk behaviors being sex, more drugs and DUI. Take away synthetic drugs then, poof, all that disappears? Of course not. Let’s talk about what sugar and food additives do to a kid’s behavior.
- She showed this poison control chart but the data stops in June 2011. She explained that calls dropped off dramatically in 2012 “because now ER doctors know what to do and users don’t have to call poison control anymore.” Ah ha, that explains it. Although it does not explain how teens somehow knew this, so stopped calling poison control.
- She showed this chart titled “Synthetic drug incidents on the rise” data ending June 2011. That was two years ago. We’re going to make decisions based on old, incomplete data? Isn’t this mayhem important enough to keep tabs on?
- Another slide showed that 11,406 users visited an ER in 2010… three years ago. So maybe teens didn’t just stop calling poison control, they stopped showing up at ERs, too. Where is that data?
- One of her slides read: “Research has proven that MDMA [Ecstasy] causes permanent brain damage in as little as one use.” Not only is this untrue, Ecstasy is being studied for it’s therapeutic benefits.
- On another slide: “Psychosis reported in approximately 14-40% of cases in a UK Emergency Room study.” Wow, what a distortion of the truth! The 14% comes from a study of 157 phone calls to the UK’s NPIS. That’s 22 people. Hardly an epidemic. Meanwhile, the 40% comes from a study of 35 visitors to a Michigan ER (which is not in the UK). That’s 14 people in one ER. So 36 users out of hundreds of thousands worldwide provides reliable data on which we’ll base public policy? Wow. Saying this data represents “14-40%” of cases for any purpose at all is so misleading, it’s practically a lie.
- Synthetic mj was accidentally discovered by a compassionate Clemson professor who was looking for treatments for MS, AIDS and chemotherapy. His slide was practically booed! Wow again.
- She said that most synthetic drug deaths occur after police have used restraints and tasers. Sadly, true.
- She called melatonin-laced brownies “frightening” and said that “melatonin mixed with alcohol is very dangerous and can be fatal.” Zero evidence of this anywhere. Let’s call that a gross exaggeration.
On Criminalizing Melatonin
According to Candy, the FDA is looking into regulating melatonin. How ridiculous! Melatonin is a harmless substance sold OTC in every drug store, superstore, grocery store and vitamin store in the US, whether brick and mortar or online.
“Melatonin is a natural, non-addicting hormone supplement that assists with sleep.” — Dr. Oz
Melatonin is not addicting, not harmful in anyway. In fact, it is believed by many experts — including the National Institute of Health — to have healing properties. No matter that melatonin is not harmful and possibly healthful, says Dr. Shulgin:
“In the name of drug control, melatonin will eventually become illegal, and it will then pass totally out of any semblance of control.”
One of the goals of this seminar was to lay the groundwork for melatonin’s fall from grace. Why? Either drug warriors are terribly concerned about the imagined dangers of melatonin — dangers which can be dispelled with 15 minutes of research — or, like a lot of people in today’s world, they are terribly concerned about job security.
Drug warriors need a few drugs to be illegal so they can keep their jobs. And they need you and me to be terribly frightened so we will go along with the game. I don’t doubt that most drug warriors think what they are doing is moral and righteous. When you examine the facts, however, you see it is anything but.
And Reefer?
Not a negative word said. Not one. Because it’s no longer possible to make pot out to be a menace to society.
Marijuana is not only harmless, it has medicinal qualities. The government’s own studies prove this. Another government study proved that marijuana is not a gateway drug. Inconvenient truths, but you can’t argue facts.
What will happen when marijuana is legalized?
Synthetic drugs will go the way of bathtub gin, of course. Why not just legalize pot? In fact, I’m wondering how synthetic mj sales are doing in Washington and Colorado these days.
The truly frightening truth is that kids a) are going to get high and b) believe they are immortal. Dangerous combo. If we cared, we’d educate them and the adults around them with facts like in the video below. Why aren’t we?
Drug Facts from A Neuroscientist:
P.S. The Botany Bay
At the end of her seminar, Candy asked if anyone had heard of The Botany Bay? A few people, me included, raised our hands. She said the Bay is “raided like monthly” and that it “writes it off as a business expense.” I would call that slander.
The Botany Bay has been raided exactly two times in the past 3 years. I suppose the $300,000 these two raids have cost the owner would be considered a business expense. Unless you call it what it was: being vandalized, stolen from, harassed and intimidated by government thugs, then being shamelessly extorted when it looks like you might get away with running a legal business.
The facts of this matter — like all the other facts in all the other matters above — can be confirmed with a quick internet search followed up with further investigation. Candy seriously needs to get her facts updated before she is allowed to lead another one of these at tax payer expense.
Much of the ER data about synthetic drugs is manufactured by agenda driven local authorities. For example, in NYC on East 125th Street, a large contingent of homeless people have been known to gather near the Harlem Metro North station because of its proximity to both homeless shelters and methadone treatment clinics. Looking to rid the area of the homeless people, the City of New York started carting them away whenever one of them caused a ruckus attributing the conduct of the individual to “the K2 epidemic.” Never mind that a population of homeless drug addicts already has a high percentage of people with underlying mental health issues, their inappropriate conduct now was all laid at the foot of “K2.”
This is the whole problem with our drug system. Getting a substance outlawed is as easy as snow the public and legislators with irrelevant statistics that misrepresent the facts. Given the number of high school seniors that every year admit to using “synthetic marijuana”, the ER data screams “safer than aspirin.” Moreover, the Poison Control data has ALWAYS been rigged – again driven by agenda conscious authorities creating the data sets they need.
SO why would no one study these substances? Because the truth would be much different than the fables they fabricate.
Thank you! You make excellent points that I had not even considered. The WOD constituency has the means to fabricate and invent “data” with which to terrorize the populace. I see that in all the agencies (much of it firsthand). It’s a racket.
HI Jane, Thank you for such an indepth response. We definitely agree that organic Cannabis should be widely available to everyone! Working on that :) We disagree on a few of your points, however.
1. Yes, we do need research to know whether or not synthetic drugs are dangerous. Otherwise, how will you know? I’m not following the logic here.
2. How do you know synthetic drug users have to get their heart, liver and kidneys tested regularly? I’d like to see that documentation to make sure other factors are accounted for, like alcohol, fast food intake, vaccinations, mercury fillings, etc. Compared to the last four, synthetic drugs are practically a vitamin.
3. Bath salts are dangerous… but they are also suspiciously out of the picture. Did they go away? If they did, the market took care of that. People who want to get high will always find a way.
4. It is not possible for a person to get superstrong without a supporting infrastructure. It will never happen for me, for example. Adrenaline (which is the what your body produces under stress) makes you feel good, gives you energy, releases blood sugar for the flight or fight response and is a pain-killer so I can see in some people that it would allow them to withstand a tazer. You might check with your local police department and see how many people can withstand a tazer hit stone cold sober. Some strong males under the influence of adrenaline likely need a higher jolt to subdue. Making the claim that synthetic drugs cause super human power absent any proof at all — and I did my research before writing this article — is rumor mongering. Worse, it’s rumor mongering for the benefit of the drug war.
5. All drugs lower the user’s defenses, even caffeine. We do drugs to do things we wouldn’t ordinarily do… like be cheerful, wake up, relax, go to sleep, giggle. I’m not sure of the point of this one…
6. Documentation needed on this one. Again, I did my research. Where are those deaths/injuries recorded that you found them and I didn’t?
7. Marinol was not even mentioned in my article. Regardless of how carefully it was manufactured, it provides no cure, no hope and very little relief to users.
8. Most synthetic drug deaths occur after police have used restraints and tasers. This is true. Do you have documentation indicating otherwise?
9. Please, no rumors. Just facts here. People have woken up driving their cars? a) documentation needed. b) what were other factors besides melatonin?
10. I saw Dr. Oz’ show in the “dangers” of melatonin. My take away was that the big “danger” was nightmares. Some of us love the vivid dreams that occasionally come for new users or when off of it for awhile. Both Oz and his doctor guest Brues kept repeating the “it interrupts your sleep patterns” mantra with absolutely no proof or studies to support it. Rumor and fear mongering in one show. Yawn.
11. The Cannabis sold in ALL dispensaries is organic? First of all, how could you possibly know this is true?
12. I’m looking forward to the day I can have 30 plants growing at one time so we can juice a plant a day for health!
I want to thank you for this article and the video with Dr. Hart is like a double edged sword. I do have to ask how much and how long did the study go on. No meth addicts do not get this way after a few uses, or weeks or months but many months or years of use. I do have to expand on some of your claims in this piece.
1. We do know synthetic drugs are dangerous, and there is research on many of these drugs. Not so much street drugs such as K2 and other synthetic marijuana, meth, E, and many other synthetic street drugs. And we do not need research to know these drugs are dangerous and do cause death.
2. Those teens are lucky that nothing happened to them, it is when you start to become a regular user is when the damage really happens. Why do you think so many patients have to regularly get their heart, liver and kidneys tested on synthetic drugs? Not all synthetic drugs are equal, just like not all alcohols are the same either. Then you have an increase of damage the higher the dose gets.
3. Bath Salts is a chemical compound that effects the brain, there have been thousands of exceptionally healthy people both mentally and physically that have lost it on these drugs. Not all of these episodes are male and have had no prior drug use or mental illness.
4. There is proof of these people getting super strength and they have been caught on tape. There is plenty of proof of people on some of these drugs withstand tazer shoots than another person their same age and body structure.
5. There are many synthetic drugs that lowers the users defenses and would do things they wouldn’t do if they were not doing these drugs. How do you account for the date rape drugs. These are synthetic. No different when you black out from alcohol.
6. Most teens either call someone they can trust, take their friend to the E.R, or God forbid leave them where some will die. Maybe a handful who have been taught not to panic and call poison control to get treatment right away. Plus most teen will not because they do not want to get in trouble or let anyone know they were with the individual in need or dire straights. Not all data is collected from Poison control.
7. There is a difference for Marinol to for example K2 and other designer marijuana products, which both have negative side effects. Marinol was created hoping it would treat like cannabis would. Again two totally different synthetic marijuana’s. One highly dangerous and the other with controlled ingredients. Can not put these in the same category.
8. We do not know that most are caused by police force. Opioids receptors are abundant in our brain stem which opioids slow down the brain stems function of respirtory and cardiac functions, this is what causes most opioid deaths.
9. The dangers of melatonin have been known for years now and has been studied at the University of Maryland Medical Center website states. People have taken melatonin and woke up driving their cars, a few people have claimed to have murdered on melatonin, is this a fact? We can not be certain.
10. Just because a drug is sold over-the-counter dose not make the drug safe. There is a whole history of over-the-counter drugs being recalled and taken off the shelves for good. Dr. Oz actually did another show telling of the dangers of melatonin.
11. The cannabis being sold at the dispensaries are not synthetic, but the organic plant. Why do you think the cannabis is synthetic?
12. The fact that teen use was already in a decline at the time of this article but continues to go down. And if a parent wants to prepare cannabis in a way that does not get their children high they need to be doing this. It is proven that even using cannabis with the de-carboxylation of the compounds you still receive the healing and preventative properties in the whole plant.
Good job other wise on the article. We also need to understand that each and everyone of us have different drug tolerances. Our body chemistry are also different so we all have different experiences with these drugs. Where one person can use for their whole adult life and the next will die on their first year. I do have to agree with Dr. Hart with education and treatment. The U.S needs to start safe places to use like in Canada.
I believe many street drugs need to be tested for their medicinal and psychological uses. As for organic cannabis needs to be widely used by everyone due to the fact everything the U.S and other countries have lied about and mislead us about.
Keep educating yourself so you can give the most accurate information to your readers and fans.
Sincerely,
Jane Stanley
NORML Nebraska member 112