XPost: uk.legal, uk.politics.drugs   
   From: deadmailbox@beeb.net   
      
   "The Todal"  wrote in message   
   news:7eics2F2g4vssU1@mid.individual.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?   
      
   Sorry - I think actually he compared Ecstasy with horse-riding but the point   
   is still valid.   
      
   >   
   > 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)