Have you ever heard of fugu?
That's the Japanese term for pufferfish, a delicacy many consumers of fish in that part of the world crave as a culinary experience. But it's not a dish one would want to walk into just any diner or food truck and order. Why? The pufferfish is among the most toxic kinds of fish on the planet. Eating it can quite literally kill you.
What’s the point?
A $2.7 million study of synthetic pot is a step in the right direction to better understand and regulate what can be dangerous substances.
The trick, of course, is properly preparing the dish. Chefs allowed to legally prepare it must undergo at least a couple of years of training and must be tested before the government will license them to prepare the expensive meal. Make an error and the outcome is far worse than the loss of a return customer. The toxins in the fish paralyze and eventually kill their consumer.
So would you want a slice of fugu served up at the local convenience store, served up right beside those hot dogs rolling back and forth on rollers? Talk about a serious gamble.
It's exactly that kind of gamble that consumers of products such as K2, Spice or "bath salts" take when they consume those popular forms of so-called synthetic marijuana. The results can be, and have been, deadly, yet for a while, the products were sold without oversight in "head shops" and other locales driven more by their love of money than by their concern for customers' health.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a spike in calls to U.S. poison control centers related to synthetic marijuana use. Fifteen people lost their lives due to adverse reactions, the agency reported.
Naturally, users of these products -- the living ones, anyway -- can't quite see what the big deal is. What's wrong with someone getting a little high?
And what's wrong with eating just a bite of the half-price pufferfish from that guy who sells those kimonos and toy Samurai swords down on the street corner?
"People who smoke K2 and Spice are basically playing Russian roulette," warns Paul Prather, a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. "You're injecting this compound that has literally never been tested."
Prather, whose specialty is pharmacology and toxicology, is the principal researcher in a $2.7 million study of the synthetic "pot" funded by the National Institutes for Health. UAMS announced the grant Tuesday.
State and federal agencies have had to play catch-up in recent years to the mass availability of K2/Spice as it was marketed by shop owners who only concerned themselves with what was legal, not what was safe or right. The powders, tablets and capsules contained a chemical likeness of the substances in marijuana that produce a "high." But it's anybody's guess as to what actually might be in those packages. Previous research has shown the concentrations of chemical compounds varied wildly.
Arkansas lawmakers in 2013 added synthetic marijuana to the state's list of controlled substances.
Thankfully, through the UAMS study, researchers will be able to provide data, the kind needed to seriously regulate these substances and remove them as a threat to public safety.
"Our goal is to provide the public and scientific community definitive information that these compounds are not an alternate form of marijuana that's safe," said Prather.
It's certainly better late than never. These substance shouldn't be sold with reckless abandon to anyone - young or old -- who can walk through the door with money in hand.
Commentary on 06/30/2016