Legalize Marijuana, Says Inventor of 'Spice' Chemicals

Legalize Marijuana, SaysInventor of 'Spice'Chemicals John W.HuffmanSays Real PotIs LessDangerousThan FakePotWhen John W.Huffman invented a whole class ofchemicals that mimic the effect ofmarijuana on the human brain, he neverintended for them to launch a whole "legalmarijuana" industry.But now that "Spice" and other forms ofimitation pot are sending users toemergency rooms across America, theretired professor has an idea of how tostem the epidemic. If the federalgovernment would legalize the real thing,says Huffman, maybe consumers wouldn'tturn to the far more dangerous fake stuff.Huffman, who developed more than 400"cannabinoids" as an organic chemist atClemson University, says that marijuana hasthe benefit of being a known quantity, andnot a very harmful one. We know thebiological effects of THC, the activeingredient in marijuana, Huffman told ABCNews, because they have been thoroughlystudied. "The scientific evidence is that it'snot a particularly dangerous drug," saidHuffman.WATCH an interview with John W. Huffman.The "JWH" class of compounds thatHuffman invented to mimic marijuana'seffects, meanwhile, have not been testedthe same way. "The physiologicalcompounds effects of [JWH] compoundshave never been examined in humans,"said Huffman. What we do know, he says, isthat "it doesn't hit the brain in the sameway as marijuana, and that's why it'sdangerous."While they are known to elevate bloodpressure -- unlike marijuana -- and to causeincreased heart rate and anxiety, to datemost of the evidence of their effects isanecdotal, and comes from things like visitsto emergency rooms. "There have been anumber of people who've committedsuicide after using them," said Huffman.Huffman began working on thecannabinoids in the early 1990s using agrant from the National Institute for DrugAbuse. He published academic papers thatgave information on the chemical steps tomake the compounds, including JWH-018,one of the easiest of the class to make andthe one most often found in Spice products."JWH-018 can be made by a halfwaydecent undergraduate chemistry major,"said Huffman, "in three steps usingcommercially available materials."In 2008, says Huffman, someone sent himan article from the German magazine DerSpiegel about a young man using the JWHchemicals to get high. He subsequentlylearned that the "imitation marijuana"drugs based on his chemicals had poppedup in Europe in 2006, not long after he'dpublished a paper describing how to makethe compounds. The compounds were alsobeing used commercially in South Korea asa plant growth product, and Huffmanspeculates that they migrated from there toChina, where they are now beingmanufactured for use in Spice."I figured that somewhere along the line,some enterprising individual would try tosmoke it," said Huffman. He didn't figurethat it would become a global industry.Anyone who ingests it recreationally,Huffman stressed, is "foolish" and playing"Russian Roulette," and the head shopowners who are selling it know what theyare doing. "They can read the newspapers,they can watch TV," said Huffman. "Theyknow what's in it. And I think they'reexploiting the young people who buythem." A representative of a head shoptrade group told ABC News that theproducts should be regulated but notoutlawed.Prohibition Doesn't Work, Says HuffmanHuffman, who opposes prohibition ingeneral, doubts that a ban on thesubstances will keep kids away from it. "Wedeclared marijuana illegal in 1937. Thefederal government passed the law. Now,that really did a lot of good to keep peoplefrom smoking marijuana, didn't it?"Huffman said that making all the JWHcompounds illegal would probably havesimilar results, but emphasizes that anydecision to legalize JWH compounds shouldhinge on a thorough study of how theyaffect humans. The DEA currently bans fivecannabinoids, including JWH-018 and oneother JWH chemical, but Congress isweighing a more sweeping ban.Huffman does believes marijuana should belegalized, since its effects are known. "Itshould be sold only to people 21 andolder. It should be heavily, heavily taxed."One of the benefits of decriminalizingmarijuana, he said, would be diminishingthe allure of its more dangeroussubstitutes."I talked to a marijuana provider fromCalifornia, a doctor, a physician," explainedHuffman, "and he said that in California,that these things are not near the problemthey are in the rest of the country simplybecause they can get marijuana. Andmarijuana, even for recreational use isquite easy to get in California, and it'sessentially decriminalized. And marijuana isnot nearly as dangerous as thesecompounds."The trouble with trying to keep people fromusing drugs like Spice, said Huffman, is that"people are going to do what they're goingto do," even if some kid is spending "$25bucks on a bag of green stuff, and hedoesn't know what's in it, and he doesn'tknow what it does.""You can't tell a 17-year-old anything,because they consider that they'reimmortal." Legalize Marijuana, SaysInventor of 'Spice'Chemicals