Tweakable fake ‘pot’ now banned in state

From Boone County Sheriff's office samples of the substance which resembled a synthetic cannabinoid (in essence synthetic marijuana) known as XLR11.......These are samples of the vegetable like substance which is similar to the known K2 and spice products.
From Boone County Sheriff's office samples of the substance which resembled a synthetic cannabinoid (in essence synthetic marijuana) known as XLR11.......These are samples of the vegetable like substance which is similar to the known K2 and spice products.

Some manufacturers of “synthetic marijuana” keep changing the chemical compounds to stay one step ahead of the law, said an Arkansas sheriff who helped get one of those substances banned Thursday.

Three Boone County teenagers were recently hospitalized after smoking an herbal potpourri that contained a substance resembling a synthetic marijuana chemical known as XLR11.

“Two of them had been put in a critical-care unit,” said Boone County Sheriff Danny Hickman. “They nearly died of it.”

After ingesting the potpourri, some patients have arrived at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison “completely off their rocker, crazy, uncontrollable, just totally insane,” said Christy Hawkins, a spokesman for the hospital. Hawkins said she couldn’t discuss specific patients.

XLR11 was not one of the substances banned under an amendment to Arkansas Code Annotated 5-64-215 enacted last year to prevent the sale and possession of synthetic marijuana.

But the state Board of Health voted unanimously Thursday to permanently ban XLR11. The vote came almost a week after Paul Halverson, director of the Arkansas Department of Health, issued a temporary emergency ban July 20.

The Health Department already was investigating XLR11, but the Boone County cases caused the board to take action sooner, said Dr. Jeffery Moran, chief of the chemistry branch for the Arkansas Public Health Laboratory.

“We’ve been watching this particular compound and similar compounds for a couple of months and waiting for it to emerge here,” he said.

Some manufacturers have been altering the chemical makeup of the compounds in a “cat-and-mouse game” to keep the products on the street legally, Moran added.

“This concept of being legal is easily misinterpreted as being safe,” he said. “What people don’t realize is these compounds are being produced because they are very potent alternatives to marijuana. It’s very easy to overdose with these compounds and very easy for these compounds to elicit a toxic effect.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent out a news release saying more than 90 people were arrested and more than 4.8 million packets of synthetic cannabinoids were seized in the first nationwide effort of its kind. More than $36 million in cash also was seized.

Congress recently expanded the definition of synthetic cannabinoids to take into account the growing number of variants being manufactured. President Barack Obama signed the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act into law July 9.

‘NEW ONES EVERY DAY’

There have been deaths in Arkansas because of synthetic marijuana, Moran said, but he didn’t know how many.

The number isn’t known, said Ed Barham, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.

After hearing complaints about herbal potpourri, Hickman and Greg Harris, coordinator of the 14th Judicial District Drug Task Force, sent samples from a store in Boone County to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for analysis, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Hickman wouldn’t reveal the name of the store or the names of the teenagers admitted to the hospital.

The most recent hospital admissions because of synthetic marijuana occurred about two weeks ago, Hawkins said.

Cindy Moran, quality-assurance manager at the Crime Lab, said the lab began seeing XLR11 in April. (Cindy Moran and Jeffery Moran are married.)

“We saw it, but we were seeing new ones every day,” she said.

Since April, the Crime Lab has had 57 cases involving XLR11 or similar substances.

Because the legal substance was making young people seriously ill in Boone County, Hickman, Harris and others met July 19 with Halverson, who issued the temporary ban the next day under Arkansas Code Annotated 5-64-201.

The permanent ban will take effect before the temporary ban ends in six months, Barham said.

Hickman said deputies went to the Boone County store under investigation on July 20 and seized about $3,000 worth of products that contained XLR11. The synthetic marijuana was being sold under the brand names Bayou Blaster Redoux, Blue Kush and Demon Free Ritual Sachet. The packages included “vegetable matter” that has a chemical substance applied to it, according to the news release.

JUST 1 ATOM

Jeffery Moran helped with the language in the Arkansas law. Sometimes a difference of one atom separates legal from illegal compounds, he said.

“What is ‘different?’” he asked. “There’s no legal basis for distinguishing that. The scientific community is really grappling with that now.”

Experts at the Crime Lab decided XLR11 wasn’t similar in chemical makeup to the seven chemical compounds specifically banned by the Arkansas law, Cindy Moran said.

“We developed kind of a rule in-house as to what was chemically similar, and XLR11 didn’t fall under this chemical similarity,” she said.

The Arkansas law bans substances that are similar in “chemical structure” or “pharmacological activity” to other synthetic-marijuana compounds. The products were sold under a variety of names, including K2, before being banned in Arkansas by the Health Department in 2010 and by the Legislature last year.

XLR11 is so new that its pharmacological effect is unknown, Jeffery Moran said. It’s similar to another new compound known as UR144, he added.

“Those compounds are tweaked ever so slightly,” he said.

Arkansas has been on the leading edge in the national effort to control synthetic drugs, Moran said. Countries in Europe went through the same thing a few years ago, changing laws as the makers of synthetic drugs moved products from one country to another where they could be sold legally, he said.

Some manufacturers seem to know state law, Moran said, and they adjust the formulas so the products can be sent across judicial boundaries and still be legal.

Products can vary from one package to the next, Cindy Moran said, even though the packaging is identical. Within the packages, there can be “hot spots” where more chemical has been applied than in other places.

“Anytime you have something that’s synthetically made, the user truly doesn’t know what they’re getting in that substance,” she said. “You’re depending on someone who has made it. ... It can be dangerous. There’s just no quality control with these products.”

Legislators may need to change the Arkansas law, Hickman said.

“It seems like every time you turn around, the chemist tweaks that to where it becomes legal,” he said. “I’m hoping for a broader type law to encompass that.”

But there are problems with making the laws too broad, Jeffery Moran said.

“We’re at a crossroads where we have to protect public health but not stymie research,” he said. “There is the potential that [synthetic cannabinoids] hold some promise for treating certain ailments.”

‘IT’S A RUSE’

The state Health Board on Thursday also voted to permanently ban Phenazepam, which was originally developed to treat neurological disorders, and 5-MeO DALT, a synthetic cathinone, also known as a “bath salt” substance.

The vote pertaining to these substances and XLR11 will begin the permanent-rule process, Barham said. In the meantime, temporary emergency bans of these three substances also are in effect.

The term “bath salts” was used to disguise the real purpose of the stimulant drugs, Jeffery Moran said. Bath salts can be smoked or ingested by mouth, nose or intravenously.

“It’s a ruse,” he said. “It’s a fake name. It has nothing to do with putting it in a bathtub.”

Synthetic drugs have been a problem nationwide.

In 2010, poison centers nationally responded to about 3,200 calls related to synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones, the DEA release stated. In 2011, that number jumped to more than 13,000 calls. Sixty percent of the cases involved people age 25 and younger.

“Hopefully we’ve stopped it for right now,” Hickman said of the sale of XLR11 in Boone County. “They may tweak it again, and it may fire back up. It’s very dangerous stuff.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/27/2012

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