Ore. Prevention Group Gets Unexpected Ally to Ban 'K2': Pharmacists

The Oregon Board of Pharmacy has banned synthetic cannabis, KGW reported Oct. 15, and a statewide prevention group recommends this strategy to other states trying to do the same.

Synthetic cannabis, also known as “K2” or “Spice,” was sold in smoke shops throughout the state as incense. If smoked, it produces a high similar to that of marijuana. Oregon's Board of Pharmacy said in a statement that, “There are no manufacturing standards for these chemicals, there is no current medical use, and there is documented evidence of serious medical consequences.”

The Oregon Partnership (OP), a statewide nonprofit focused on the prevention of substance abuse and suicide, had been working on a legislative strategy to get K2 banned because of safety concerns.

“Last year poison control centers nationwide had 13 reports of K2 or Spice poisonings,” said Tom Parker, the communications director at OP. “In the first six months of this year they had 766 reports.”

In August, KGW reported on an incident in which a 16-year-old Oregon boy ended up in the emergency room after smoking K2. “He was panicking… His hands were going numb and tingling,” his mother said. “He would go to sleep and stop breathing. For a good hour-and-a-half, I had to remind my son to breathe.”

That incident, Parker said in an interview, received a lot of publicity. He believed it was one reason why the state Board of Pharmacy decided to act. “That became the tipping point.”

Parker was pleased with the results. “This is huge,” he said. “It’s a great win for Oregonians. We almost never get a chance to get out ahead of an emerging drug problem, and that’s what's happened here.”

He recommends that advocates in other states work with their state pharmacy boards as well as with their lawmakers.

“Here's an avenue where you don't have to worry about getting legislators on board, you don’t have to wait 60 to 180 days for it to take effect, you don’t have to work city-by-city,” he said. “You can handle the whole state in one fell swoop. The Board acted decisively, and its ruling went into effect immediately.”