Synthetic Drug Legislation: Mislabeling and Misbranding Drugs

Posted on March 17, 2013 by tothemaximus
by Karen Dobner  tothemaximusfound@sbcglobal.net

Traditional models of state and local drug legislation will not work with synthetic drugs.

As fast as synthetic drug legislation is enacted, unscrupulous scientists are able to continue to provide retailers with “legal” products by developing/synthesizing new synthetic cannabinoid compounds that are not covered under state/Federal regulatory, administrative or statutory actions.

The ‘good guys’ have been dealing with the frustrations of ineffective legislation while trying to figure out how to protect American citizens from the greedy sociopaths who have found a new way to get rich by marketing these dangerous poisons to our youth.

“At his best, man is the nobelest of all animals.  Separated from law and justice, he is the worst.”  Aristotle 

However, there is an answer to the legislative challenges that face our law makers.

Before we tell the tale, can we just give a HUGE kudos to Cara Smith, former Chief of Staff for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, for being a forward thinking leader with regard to our war against the synthetic drugs.

Illinois

Lisa Madigan - Photo

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

Lisa Madigan led the charge in Illinois’ war against synthetic drug dealers and manufacturers.  Her office developed a battle plan that involved several state agencies, including the Illinois Poison Center.

However, it was Smith that spent many sleepless nights contemplating the challenges of legislating the synthetic drug  industry.   Her passion for this problem has netted us the solution.  The good people of Illinois owe Cara Smith a huge debt of gratitude.

In the late part of 2011 and early 2012, Madigan and Smith, with assistance from Director of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske, drafted legislation which went into effect in July of 2012.   We believe this legislation to be the first truly effective synthetic drug legislation in the country.

Illinois HB 5233

Illinois House Bill 5233 effectively amends the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and sets forth a definition for synthetic drug products.   The legislation targets the retail sale of synthetic drugs by defining a “synthetic drug product” as one that contains a controlled substance not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The amendment ends the game of catch up and cracks down on retail sales by classifying
as illegal any chemical sold to be taken as a drug, regardless of what it’s called or how it’s labeled.

The sociopathic drug dealers can take their “Not for Human Consumption” stamps and throw them in the garbage. Continue reading →

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Emily Bauer Speaks out on the Katie Show

Posted on March 1, 2013 by tothemaximus

Katie Couric’s show recently featured synthetic marijuana and Emily Bauer’s story, in particular.  Emily speaks publicly for the first time and her mom, Tonya, talks about the very real dangers of Spice and how it nearly took her daughter’s life.  Synthetic cannabinoids are linked to strokes and heart attacks along with many other side effects.

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New Hybrid Synthetic Drug: Cannabinoid found mixed with ‘Bath Salts’

Posted on February 18, 2013 by tothemaximus
by Karen Dobner  tothemaximusfound@sbcglobal.net

Just when we thought that we’ve seen everything, some sociopathic scientist got a mad genius idea to mix a brand new synthetic cannabinoid with cathinones, or ‘Bath Salts.’  This new class of designer drug was studied by investigators from the National Institute of Health Sciences in Tokyo in a report published in Forensic Science International.

Dirk Hanson wrote an article about the report (another words, he dummied it up for us) in his Mad Scientist“Addiction Blog.”   So, I’m dummying it up a little more for those of us that failed science class.

Investigators found a “completely new type of designer drug, URB-754,” which they purchased over the internet.  This new synthetic cannabinoid compound was found to be blended with a cathinone (“bath salts”) derivative called 4-Me-MABP.

A completely unknown compound was also found “which is deduced to be the product of a reaction between URB-754 and the cathinone, 4-Me-MABP.  This new designer amphetamine, called (N,5-dimethyl-N-(1-oxo-1-(p-tolyl)butan-2-yl)-2-(N′-(p-tolyl)ureido)benzamide).

It still doesn’t have a name.

The completely new designer drug is yet another new class of chemicals.

Furthermore, a tryptamine derivative (psychedelic) 4-hydroxy-diethyltryptamine (4-OH-DET), was detected to have been blended with a synthetic cannabinoid, APINACA, in the same product.

Investigators are reporting that the trend is to blend different types of synthetic drugs, such as cannabinoids, cathinones, amphetamines, psychedelics.  And, for the mass market, I’m sure we’ll see them flavored with kid-friendly flavors like cotton candy, bubble gum, cherry, etc.   Sociopaths have no boundaries.  They are already making laced lollypops, cookies, and other yummy concoctions in many different sweet flavors.  What’s next?

It was also reported that they found 12 new synthetic cannabinoids in their purchases.

To sum it up, we are not only finding new cannabinoids on the market regularly, but we are seeing new classes of chemicals.  And, the new class of chemicals is a product of a blend of synthetic cannabinoids with ‘Bath Salts’ (cathinones) which created a derivative synthetic amphetamine.  Yikes!!!

This is why it is crucial for legislators to understand that banning classes of chemicals  will NOT work.

In Illinois, we have blanket legislation that bans any chemical, if it’s sold as a drug and not regulated by the FDA.  It’s an amendment to the Food and Cosmetic Act that makes it illegal to mislabel and misbrand chemicals sold as drugs.  It doesn’t matter what it’s called or if it’s stamped “Not for Human Consumption.”  ANY chemical that is misbranded is illegal.

There will always be new classes of chemicals introduced on the market to bypass legislation if our law makers continue to write legislation that banns classes of chemicals.

Even with blanket legislation across the country, drug dealers will be motivated to introduce new chemicals in order to meet the demand for new drugs that can’t be detected in drug tests.

For all these reasons, education is crucial.

 

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Second Study Released Linking Kidney Disease to Synthetic Cannabinoids

Posted on February 18, 2013 by tothemaximus
by Karen Dobner  tothemaximusfound@sbcglobal.net
 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the latest indictment against synthetic cannabinoids (SC) in the February 15 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report directly linking kidney damage to synthetic cannabinoids.  We had been warning  about renal damage for almost a year, so it’s great news when case studies are reported confirming our warnings.kidney-adjusted-27543047

Also, University of Alabama at Birmingham nephrologists have reported 4 cases of acute kidney injury directly linked with synthetic cannabinoid use in a study which will be published in the March issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. The authors of the UAB report recommend that physicians inquire about the use of designer drugs when evaluating patients with acute kidney injury — especially in cases where the cause is unknown and the urine drug screen is negative.

 

(Even if a synthetic drug screening is negative, it does not indicate certainty that the patient has not been ingesting drugs because tests are relatively unreliable.  The tests do not detect the newest chemicals used to make synthetic drugs.  Of the 16 cases, toxicologic analysis of implicated SC products and clinical specimens was only possible in seven.)
 

Management of suspected SC toxicity is systemic (step-by-step) and should be medically supervised; no antidote exists.

The UAB report outlined four different cases of previously healthy young men whose acute kidney injury was linked to ingestion of synthetic marijuana. All the patients were residents of the same northeastern Alabama community and presented to UAB or a community hospital within a nine-week period showing symptoms of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain after using synthetic marijuana.

Co-author Gaurav Jain, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Nephrology said, “It is very likely that a possible nephrotoxin adulterated the preparation used by our patients.”  Adulterated means “to make impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance or element.”  I know what he meant, but an untrained mind might think he was saying, “The poison’s been poisoned!”  After all, most synthetic cannabinoids are categorized as “poison” on the Material Data Safety Sheets, which are legally required by legitimate laboratories to handle and ship.

Use of synthetic cannabinoids is relatively new and authorities are just beginning to gather the Continue reading →

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Karen Dobner Interviewed on HLN

Posted on February 14, 2013 by tothemaximus

President of To the Maximus, Karen Dobner, shared Max’s story in an interview by HLN TV (CNN spinoff) journalist Kyra Phillips about the dangers of Spice.

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