DEA bans chemcials used to mimic marijuana

The Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday banned for at least a year the chemicals used to make "K2" and "Spice," popular smokable herbs that mimic the marijuana high.

The DEA used its emergency power to control five chemicals used to coat the herbs. It classified them in Schedule I, the most restrictive category under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs are found to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

The U.S. military and at least 18 states have banned the chemicals. Arizona outlawed their sale and use on Feb. 18. The Alaska House passed a ban on Monday; that bill now goes to the state Senate.

On Thursday, the U.S. Naval Academy expelled a midshipman for use or possession of Spice. Seven midshipmen were expelled in January, media director Deborah Goode said. The academy has a zero-tolerance policy for drug use among its 4,400 students.

"Spice in particular has a devastating effect on students who need to study and retain knowledge," Vice Adm. Michael Miller, superintendent at the Naval Academy, said in a statement. "Our standards are clear — Spice has no place at USNA or in the naval service."

Smoking the chemicals can cause convulsions, anxiety attacks, dangerously elevated heart rates, vomiting and disorientation, the DEA said.

"This is bad stuff. It causes a lot of problems," DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said. "It is our duty and our responsibility to act when there is an imminent threat to public health and safety."

Spice and K2 became popular with teens and college students in 2009, Payne said. They are often marketed as legal, fake pot and labeled as herbal incense.

In the notice in Tuesday's Federal Register, the DEA cited several instances in which people who smoked herbal incense became severely ill or had accidents. In September, police in Nebraska said a teenage boy careened his truck into the side of a house and then continued driving, hitting several other things.

The boy admitted smoking "Wicked X," an herbal incense coated with synthetic cannabinoids, the DEA said. Tests found no alcohol or illegal substances.

"Just because something is legal or unregulated doesn't make it safe," Payne said.

The emergency ban is effective for a year and can be extended for six months.

Federal scientists will study the chemicals, abuse data and the potential for addiction to determine whether the chemicals should be permanently controlled.