XPost: uk.legal, uk.politics.drugs   
   From: deadmailbox@beeb.net   
      
   "John Watson"  wrote in message   
   news:7ei9j4F2gj8utU1@mid.individual.net...   
   >I tried this stuff once - and only once - it's awful. At over £6/g it's   
   > more expensive than your local Vietnamese "skunk"!   
   >   
   > Once again our drug laws are based on ignorance.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Drug experts advise ban on Spice   
   >   
   > The government's drug experts today advised the home secretary to ban   
   > Spice, a herbal smoking mixture thought to be as strong as some strains of   
   > skunk cannabis.   
   >   
   > The decision, which the home secretary, Alan Johnson, is expected to   
   > endorse, marks the first official move to curb a burgeoning market in   
   > "legal highs". Sales of herbal drug substitutes that contain neither   
   > tobacco nor cannabis have grown rapidly through a network of online sites   
   > and backstreet "head shops".   
   >   
   > The government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) warns that   
   > Spice Gold, which is advertised as a herbal high and an "aromatic   
   > potpourri", is in reality far from innocuous. They say it contains   
   > synthetic chemicals that mimic the effects of some of the more powerful   
   > active ingredients in cannabis.   
   >   
   > Professor David Nutt, the ACMD chair, said: "These are not harmless herbal   
   > alternatives and have been found to cause paranoia and panic attacks. That   
   > is why we are advising the government to bring a large number of synthetic   
   > cannabinoids under the Misuse of Drugs Act.   
   >   
   > "People need to know they pose a real danger and should not be seen as   
   > safe alternatives to illegal substances."   
      
      
   Wasn't Professor Nutt the very sensible chap who compared the risks of   
   cannabis to the risks of horse-riding and was condemned by all the stupid   
   politicians and Glenda Slaggs?   
      
   I'd be inclined to trust him. Cannabis has a long and respectable history   
   and a huge user-base that enables people to judge the risks and effects.   
   I've never tried Spice Gold nor would I want to - goodness knows what goes   
   into it and whether one supplier's ingredients would differ from another's.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)