Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Is K2 good or bad? One Thing's For Sure... It Will Probably Soon Be Illegal

If you're following the K2 debate, then watch my latest story (scroll all the way down.) I think K2 will eventually be illegal in Missouri, but for now, the bills are running their courses in Jeff City.

Representative Ward Franz from West Plains told me last night that a senate committee discussed his house bill. Franz's bill would make K2 a felony, and it would go into effect immediately. He says some people have complained to him of having rapid heart beats and high blood pressure from using K2. He says K2 should have harsher consequences than marijuana, simply because it's more dangerous. In his mind, he says it's definitely not comparing apples to apples.

On the other hand, there are arguments out there that say if K2 is banned, something else will take its place. A lot of K2 supporters say this is also an argument to make marijuana legal.

The truth? Don't ask me. There are compelling arguments for both. I think there's no question that kids shouldn't use it... but that's not the argument. Even the K2 supporters I've talked to believe K2 use should be limited to adults. Do alcohol and tobacco cause more deaths? Actually, yes... but, I just don't see how anyone can use that alone as an argument to keep K2 legal.

On a side note, here's what I think is interesting. I called local hospitals, and they're not tracking it. I've heard stories of people getting sent to the E.R. and doctors having no idea how to diagnose or treat it... but in the end, I think it's new enough that people can't make a great assessment about K2. Are lawmakers jumping the gun? Perhaps. Are users being too careless about what they're putting in their bodies? Maybe. We all know smoking anything is not good for your body...

Again, I think there are believable, credible arguments for both sides. But in reality, I can't see any lawmaker actually advocating for K2. If not for safety concerns, the fallout in the next election would be enough to stop a politician from supporting it. So, despite what anyone thinks, the decision will likely be made for Missourians before the majority of residents even know what K2 is.

I'm not prepared to give my personal opinion, but I do think it's fair, as always, to listen to both sides.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Recently my sister-in-law had to get a Temporary Guardianship over her 19 year old son. He was acting very strange: throwing furniture, very disorganized thinking, violent behavior toward friends and his parents, and his blood pressure was high as well as his heart rate. They had to get the guardianship because he refused treatment, and they wanted to figure out what was wrong with him and try to help him. He said lots of wild things; a psychiatrist said he had a psychotic break. This behavior lasted several days. He was held overnight by the police and had to be hospitalized for a week. Once he "calmed down", he told his parents he had tried K-2 several times, including a day or so before the strange behavior started. They now think this whole episode was caused by the K-2 and feel lucky that it wasn't worse. Something needs to be done about this substance.

MC said...

I would not like to see this become illegal, perhaps because I believe every drug should be legal. I think it is a matter of personal responsibility, and once you become a responsible adult, you are free to make the choices over what you take in, whether that be drugs, alcohol, or foods... as long as you are aware of the effects, you should be allowed to make your own choices. But I also think you should live with the consequences of those choices.

As it stands, we kind of pick and choose arbitrarily which of the drugs are legal (alcohol, nicotine) and which are not, and this distinction seems based more on lobbyists than on safety and side effects. It seems to be about money. Marijuana was legal until William Hurst went after it, villainizing it with the most ridiculous fear-mongering tactics, and all because he bought all of those paper mills. He was afraid that hemp, which was cheaper and easier to turn to paper than wood, would bankrupt him. So he made people fear marijuana by linking it to communism, rape and murder, and even though we can now see the flawed logic of this, we hold on to the rejection of marijuana on moral grounds.

Sandy said...

Maybe not make it illegal but definitely regulated like alcohol and tobacco (and marijuana). There are teens using K2...even some younger kids...definitely not responsible adults.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you and those people are the reason everyone is falling for the "k2 scare". Just because the kid had a high heart rate and rage issues, does not mean it was because K2.

How can just blame it on K2? Do people ever think that maybe the kid was just smoking K2 at the same time and it had nothing to do with it? Blaming it on K2 is completely illogical without MEDICAL PROOF that the K2 DIRECTLY AFFECTED his behavior. Guess what? NO MEDICAL PROOF HAS BEEN DISCOVERED.

Why? Because it's not bad for you. I have friends that purely smoke spice now because they don't want to go to jail for smoking weed. They've been doing it since it was released. All of them are absolutely fine.

If one kid in the USA goes and shoots himself in the arm, then says he occasionally smokes K2, then all of a sudden K2 is a killing machine and needs to be illegal. Come on, that's ridiculous. You need proof. Do actual facts mean anything anymore? Furthermore, the kid could have just blamed it on K2 as an excuse to say he's "sane". It could have been anything.

Everyone needs to THINK before judging. You need evidence people, and so far there is none. Also, you cannot judge if you haven't tried it yourself. Open your minds.

Another example: A kid goes to the hospital because he thinks hes having a heart attack after smoking. This is a common "hallucination" from beginner users of spices and weed. In actuality, the user is in no danger. This might be used as an excuse to make an age limit on K2 (which there already is, 18, need an ID, JUST LIKE ALCOHOL), but it's NOT an excuse to ban the substance.

Anonymous said...

everyone that is having these problems in which they need to go to the hospital and call poison control is clearly smoking too much at one time. i smoke spice/k2 regularly and have never encountered any problem. at times my heart rate was a tad high but i was no more hyper than if i drank a monster before smoking a blunt or something. when you smoke k2 you are not supposed to smoke a whole lot. i smoke a small bowlpack and i have never had any problems at all. be responsible and just do a little. its the same thing with anything else. you dont go and drink a 30 rack then a handle of captains....

Anonymous said...

really.... that 19 year old kid. you cant say k2 does that. i deff think there are other issues that need to be addressed. there are not enough facts on this k2. and you cant past judgement on just one thing. i have tired it and i know many pple who have been smoking it for some time now. and they never had problems like that. i think your story might be kinda made up. but than again i just have a voice. im trying to figure out if its bad for you.. i dont need fake facts to lead me to believe a lie. so im thankfull pple who wrote on here think like i do to.

Ryan said...

Welll, I've smoked it a few times myself, different brands, some much stronger then others. I can't do it anymore, Weed rez on my lungs wasn't so bad, but this sh*t? Anyone still smoking this needs to wake the fu*k up, this is just terrible for us. I don't mess with it anymore knowing so little about this but seeing a lot of the side effects before I even started doing research! I can say I def feel my heart rate rise when I smoked it, especially if I'm playing a video game. I've seen these side effects and others I haven't had in some of the people I chill with too. K2 may get us high, but so does crack and meth, and WEED ( though I know not everyone has the ability to smoke marijuana whenever)and for all we DON'T KNOW crack and meth may actually turn out to be better lol! Every person I talk to about this seems to wanna defend it, well screw that. There are a good amount of bad reports on this sh*t already it's crazy. Any marijuana smoker would defend weed to the end that it's pretty much harmless and many can say they've smoked it for years, yet this k2 stuff is already surfacing with negative results, and some say 1-3 years of smoking k2 could be very hazardous to our bodies. I'm sure half of you have had bad high off K2 yourselves and yet you still smoke it ! ( addicted already? ) At first, when I heard about Missouri trying to make it a FEDERAL OFFENSE to smoke k2 I was kinda like wtf, but now it makes sense. I really, really hope someone who reads this and smokes this crap into consideration. I unfortunately am compelled to watch my brother smoke this a few times a day, the effects are showing but he refuses to listen. You don't wanna end up with some shitty sickness due to K2 ( if one even exists )that we later find out down the road. I'm not trying to put it down for no reason, we all can tell this sh*t just isn't any good at all for us.
Quit while you can.

Anonymous said...

I can't speak for others. I just know what I am going through with my son. Someone left a comment saying you can't link K2 to to a high heart rate and rage issues. My son had that exact reaction immediately after smoking K2. Not one time, not two times...but THREE times. He had to be rushed to the ER because his heart rate was over 200. Not a hallucination - this was a heart monitor. Not only that, but he became combative. I don't need medical proof when logic clearly points the finger at K2. Unfortunately, at this point, he appears to be hooked on the stuff. He's smoking it more and more often and is escalating the amount he does. Does this sound ok to anyone else?

Anonymous said...

OK,
first of all.. I smoke k2. Does it raise your heart rate? yes and no, If you smoke yourself completely stupid (which i have on many occasions) yes it will. But doesn't alchohol do the exact same thing? black out, alchohol poisoning, voilence, drunk driving??? fatilities from alchohol have been way higher than any senthetic marajauna substitute can ever account for. People in congress want to bitch? USA home of the free?? yeah.. we can tell. Why does the government have any say at all what we do with the substances we have as long as i'm sittin on my computer playin diablo smoking an L of k2 not bothering anyone at all, I don't feel they have any right to tell me shit. Its illegal because people wanna trip? OK? Well as long as we are trippin on our own time spending our money and the gorvernment is taxing the shit,so wtf do they have to complain bout? I say tell uncle sam to keep his nose in his own business and the government needs to get off their controlling shit... We aren't supposed to be a communist country but it sure the hell is looking that way. Solution? Like it has been said by millions, put an age limit (used to be 19 where i live) and tax it. If you get caught driving, ok hand the idiot a dui, but it's like alchohol.. you abuse it, of course bad shits gonna happen, too much of anythin can be bad. but still take into consideration it falls into responsibility.. just like guns.. guns don't kill people people do.

Anonymous said...

I <3 k2