Spice usage creates a sense of calmness and increased creativity but nausea and amnesia are common after effects. Due to legislation, the drug is now illegal in the United States. Photo by Alison Brown
By Jake McQuiggan
Artificial marijuana, or spice, a new drug that has become popular in colleges and high schools is now deemed illegal in the U.S. due to the Drug Enforcement Administration regulations. According to heraldextra.com, the drug originally posed as a medicinal drug for illnesses such as glaucoma and cancer, but recent studies have shown that it has the same artificial chemicals found in weed.
Legalhighreviews.com reported that spice is rumored to give users a heightened sense of sound and color, increase creativity, provide a calm sensation, and have no feelings of paranoia. This would give users a high like traditional weed without the negative side effects such as chronic bronchitis, anxiety, increased heart rate,
“I have had experience on someone who has used spice and the drug decreases so much oxygen to the brain that it puts the person in a zombie like state and makes then feel terrible afterward,” RN April Paulson said.
Users actually suffer from severe nausea, unresponsiveness, and amnesia after inhaling the substance.
“The girl I worked on showed signs like she wanted to communicate but was unable to speak for over two hours. Then after coming back to reality, she was only able to remember seeing flashing strobe lights the whole time,” Paulson said.
HU-210 is a chemical that is similar to an active ingredient in marijuana that has been reported in spice. This chemical is responsible for the psychoactive effects of spice, which gives users hallucinations and extreme paranoia.
“The person can be a danger to themselves or others if equipment is involved,” Paulson said.
Another rumor that attracts drug users switching from marijuana to spice is that spice can not be detected in a drug test.
“Every substance can be detected in urine test, it just depends on the amount of time. Spice can be detected in a test within 72 hours of inhaling it,” Paulson said.
While spice has emerged onto the scene as a great alternative drug with no negative effects from consumption, in truth it is a artificial substance with deadly short term effects and unknown long term consequences.
Rachel Pugh • Mar 29, 2012 at 8:47 pm
It’s unfortunate that articles like this have to be written, but they are completely necessary in today’s time. People don’t realize that basically anything you misuse to get a “high” from is going to have some sort of negative consequence—yet there are idiots out there that are constantly looking for a “healthy” alternative to “bad drugs.” Thank you for putting to rest their latest claims on spice.
Becca Soon • Mar 29, 2012 at 8:39 pm
I think this article is very informative about the negative effects of spice. People all around say that it can’t hurt you and it’s just like marijuana but this article proves that wrong. It’s so good that PGHS is actually putting this stuff out to the student body because I hear so much about spice. I think this kind of information is important to expose to us dumb teenagers.
Chloe Alexander • Mar 29, 2012 at 8:25 pm
This article was very informative and addresses issues concerning spice that people did not think about before they did it. Anytime you have a “knockoff” anything, you have to be extra careful, especially when it has potential health effects. I agree that this should be illegal, but on the other hand it is still accessible and people will still do it. This article will hopefully reach out to help potential users realize what they are really getting into.
John Shumar • Mar 29, 2012 at 8:24 pm
I think it is good that there is an article on the negative effects of spice. I have heard a lot of students say that spice has no negative side effects, but the fact is that it is a drug that alters your brain and-as mentioned by this article-makes you experience some weird stuff. Hopefully a lot of people will read this article and realize that spice is harmful.
Brooke Dancy • Mar 29, 2012 at 8:15 pm
I think this was a great article to write. Seeing that many teenagers are beginning to experiment with spice, students of PGHS can read this and understand the truth. You hear many things about the effects of drugs are and a lot of people like to think that nothing bad can come from spice, therefore this article is very informative and can teach those what actually happens when taking this drug.
Stephen Brockwell • Mar 29, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Substance abuse is becoming an increasing problem in some schools. Substances that cause a sensation or “high” in a person can have dangerous or even deadly side effects. Spice may be artificial marijuana, but it is a very real drug.
Alex Crowder • Mar 27, 2012 at 11:17 am
I wonder how something can be considered a ‘fake’ drug when it still does everything that the ‘real’ drug does. With marijuana becoming legal in a lot of places, however, would this be still illegal? That doesn’t seem right. Why would the ‘fake, harmless’ drug be banned while the actual one is allowed to be used? Drugs are drugs are drugs, and no label should change that.
Jordan Thompson • Mar 25, 2012 at 1:37 pm
It is great to become informed that spice is now deemed illegal because I believe it should be because no matter what students say, a drug is a drug. Spice still causes individuals to encounter a “high”, similar to marijuana. Students should not be testing drugs as it is, however they still are going to do it. This article informed about the drug itself and I am glad to see that the Royal News is covering topics such as this to raise awareness to our students about the dangers of alcohol and drug use.
Sarah Beth Howard • Mar 25, 2012 at 10:10 am
Some of the information in this article is quite interesting to hear about. However, another question that must be posed is if the illegality of the drug may be affected if marijuana becomes legal. It has been increasing in controversy if the US Government will legalize marijuana. But if marijuana becomes illegal then maybe substances that are like marijuana will become legal as well. If this happens then we will have to worry about the effects of marijuana and spice, and wonder if the social impact will be completely negative and irreversible. Maybe other drugs will then be legalized and the legalization of drugs that copy the generic drugs will soon ensue. Just as the illegalization of alcohol in the 1920s caused an increase of crime, it is possible that the legalization of weed and other “copycats” will cause a negative effect that may define the country in the future.
Bradley Cooper • Mar 20, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Illegal drug use is popular among teens today. I appreciate that TRN is informing students about the potential side effects of this drug, so maybe they will think twice before abusing it. Students who read the paper cannot testify that they have not been warned.
Matthew Schneck • Mar 17, 2012 at 3:37 pm
The article is quite informative about spice. I personally believed many of the things that this article demonstrated were wrong. With drug issues becoming even more rampant throughout the high school community, it is good to see that the Newspaper is taking the job of informing students about the dangers that this synthetic drug still poses. It would be nice to see more statistical information regarding usage numbers in high schools, but overall, this article is quite effective in getting its purpose across.
Luke Humphries • Feb 26, 2012 at 10:53 pm
Although I think there should have been more information, I think this was a really good idea for an article, because alot of people were interested in this topic when spice first came out. I’m glad that there is some factual information on it, and I think it was a really good thing that this was taken off of the market, because it seems that in some ways this drug was worse than marijuana.
Stephanie • Feb 26, 2012 at 3:01 am
I have smokes alot of spice, and thought it to be similar to weed. I have smoked over a gram a day and felt no bad reactions other than wanting to eat. Recently it has been different. I had 3 cases where i couldn’t understand what was happening to me. I can even explain the feeling except it was just like the article states..”.I have had experience on someone who has used spice and the drug decreases so much oxygen to the brain that it puts the person in a zombie like state and makes then feel terrible afterward,” The last time i smoked it i was fine but hours after i went into a zombie mode, and felt horrible. i count control it. I started to drink water and lots of it to maybe help, but it made it worse and i started to uncontrollable vomit all over my bed and couldn’t even make it to the bathroom. When i did make it to the bathroom i could speak. This was the worst experience i have ever had with any drug. Its three days later and i am still getting headaches, and feel nauseous. I will never smoke it again, and i seriously advise people not to. I would never want to feel that way again!
stephanie chase
Kayla Bishop • Feb 21, 2012 at 12:14 pm
I found this article to be very interesting because you hear of this stuff but you never know real facts about it this article gave you very good information about spice. I’m very happy that spice was made illegal because it was just like a drug it was just as addictive and as harmful. While it was legal there were people dying.
I thought the article was very well written but it seems like there could of been more research done on the topic.