The Drug Enforcement Administration moved Wednesday to halt sales of “herbal incense” products said to create a marijuana-like high when smoked.
In a notice published in the Federal Register, the DEA said it was creating an emergency — but temporary — prohibition against the possession or sale of the products or any one of five chemicals used to make the products while regulators take a closer look at them.
For the next year, the DEA said, the products will be considered Schedule I controlled substances, the same strict level of control currently used for marijuana.
Selling the products, sometimes referred to as “fake pot,” could bring criminal charges and prison time.
Officials said the products are being used by a growing number of teens and young adults as an end-run around prohibitions against marijuana.
“The American public looks to the DEA to protect its children and communities from those who would exploit them for their own gain,” DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart said in a statement. “Makers of these harmful products mislead their customers into thinking that ‘fake pot’ is a harmless alternative to illegal drugs, but that is not the case.”
The products, currently sold legally at smoke shops under brand names such as Spice, Blaze and K2, are dried plant leaves coated with chemicals that officials said mimic the effects of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot. They are, sometimes winkingly, marketed as incense, but marijuana-themed websites abound with reviews of them as smokable products, though commenters often disagree widely on their effects.
John Huffman, a Clemson University chemistry professor who created three of the THC-like chemicals as part of his research on cannabinoid compounds, said they had not been studied for their impact on humans.
“They are dangerous, and anyone who uses them is stupid,” Huffman told The Associated Press. “They seem to be pretty toxic.”
Poison-control centers have reported an increase in calls about fake pot. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported receiving more than 1,500 calls from 48 states and the District of Columbia about the products through the first nine months of the year, according to the DEA.
In Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center has received 34 calls so far this year about the products, up from two calls last year, said Mary Hilko, the center’s public-education coordinator.
Hilko said the most common symptoms reported were a racing heart rate, agitation and tremors, along with confusion, hallucinations and nausea. Sometimes, Hilko said, the symptoms are severe and require day-long hospitalization. More commonly, patients are treated in the emergency room and sent home.
At least 15 states have already moved to regulate or ban one or more of the chemicals in fake pot, as have some European and Scandinavian countries. Huffman said manufacturers would probably switch to using different chemicals not included in the DEA’s ban that also mimic THC’s effects.
“Until the risks associated with ingesting these products and chemicals can be studied and understood, there is no place for them on the shelves of any legitimate business,” Gil Kerlikowske, the White House drug-policy director, said in a statement.
A survey of Denver-area smoke shops Wednesday found a number of store managers reluctant to discuss the products. One said she had never heard of them.
At Headed West, in Englewood, assistant store manager Mike Allard said the store sold the products only to people over 18 and that they sold them strictly as incense.
“Once it leaves the store, we can’t control what people do,” he said.
“I think anybody who’s over the age of 18,” he added, “should be able to make their own decisions with the incense they purchase.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com