As states race to outlaw synthetic drugs sold as "bath salts" or "fake marijuana," there would seem to be little downside to banning these untested and possibly dangerous chemicals. But prohibiting "legal" intoxicants — many of which have exploded in popularity via the Internet — could have the unintended effect of keeping potential cures for diseases like Alzheimer's out of the pharmaceutical pipeline.
Many of the drugs marketed as bath salts and available under brand names like Cloud Nine, Ivory Wave and Blue Silk contain stimulants such as mephedrone and MDPV (methylenedioxypyrovalerone); neither is approved for medical use in the U.S. These chemicals have not been scientifically tested in humans, but users report effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine. Media accounts have linked the drugs to serious, even possibly fatal, side effects.
(In case you're wondering, no, Calgon and Origins Soothing Sea Salts cannot "take you away" to get you high: legitimate bath salts sold in the soap aisle do not contain psychoactive substances. The "bath salts" with amphetamine-like qualities are sold in head shops and other places that sell drug paraphernalia and are labeled in ways that imply their true purpose.)
So far, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has not banned these substances, but if their popularity continues to increase, they are unlikely to stay legal for long. It's not even certain that any "legal high" is actually entirely legal — a 1986 law bars the use or sale of analogues of prohibited drugs for human consumption, but it's unclear whether it can be enforced against these substances and under what circumstances.
At the same time, several marijuana-like synthetics are also growing in popularity as legal highs. They are sold under names like Spice and K2. Producers attempt to remain on the right side of the law by labeling their products as "not for human consumption" and selling them as incense or, in the case of MDPV and mephedrone, as bath salts or plant food. And the Internet has allowed chemists, marketers and consumers to escalate the development and sales of these products in ways that leave little time for regulators to keep up.
More than a dozen states have already banned the substances found in fake pot. And the DEA announced late last year that it will place an emergency ban on five such chemicals (JWH-018*, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497 and cannabicyclohexanol), which means that they will become illegal for at least a year until further action can be taken. The DEA seeks to place these substances in Schedule I, which is the most restrictive category of drug prohibition — heroin is a Schedule I drug, for instance — and means that they cannot even be used for therapeutic purposes.
No banned drug has ever permanently escaped this category, with two bizarre exceptions. "Club drug" GHB resides paradoxically in both schedules I and III. The brand name has a medical use in narcolepsy treatment but the compound itself is designated as without medicinal value. Then, there's trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), a chemical with such bad side effects that it never caught on and therefore wasn't officially outlawed after its emergency ban ended.
Suffice to say, getting a drug out of Schedule I is much harder than getting it into that legal category, as supporters of medical marijuana and MDMA have discovered.
And yet it's possible that these threatened compounds could have important medical uses. The substances in Spice and K2 were originally designed to study the brain receptors activated by marijuana in laboratory animals. For this research, more potent activators of the receptors are useful — and that's indeed the way the synthetic drugs act.
As a result, "they could be more dangerous [than marijuana]," says David Kroll, a pharmacologist and blogger for Chemical and Engineering News and the Public Library of Science. Users have commented [scroll down] on Kroll's site about their experiences with these drugs: "It reads to me like very high dose THC: tremor, rapid heart rate, intense paranoia," says Kroll. "If you look through my comment thread, [about] 50% [said] they thought they were going to die or 'The world melted away and I couldn't stop it.'"
Still, there are also hints that some of these cannabinoids could help in the development of legitimate drugs. At least one substance in the JWH series, JWH-133 (named after its discoverer, John W. Huffman, a chemist at Clemson University), has been shown in animals to fight the inflammation caused by amyloid-beta, the protein that makes up the plaques in Alzheimer's patients' brains.
But if that drug were banned or considered to be an analogue, additional research on JWH-133 would be unlikely. After a drug is placed in Schedule I, most pharmaceutical companies will not work to develop it, not least because the classification presents enormous regulatory hurdles in FDA approval and marketing. "It could deter pharmaceutical companies," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "They don't want to start working with compounds that could be potentially addictive."
As for the active ingredients in bath salts, they too have not been tested in humans — and there have been media reports of psychotic episodes, anxiety, kidney failure and severe paranoia — but that doesn't mean that they couldn't hold some potential for medical benefit. Notes Volkow, "Amphetamines can be incredibly addictive and destructive and yet when used orally, they are very beneficial for the treatment of ADHD."
The Retail Compliance Association, a group that says it represents retailers' "financial well being and liberty," has written to the DEA to challenge the emergency cannabinoid ban. "We don't disagree that we need to study them, but these are incredible things that could lead to potential cures and therapies," says Dan Francis, RCA's executive director.
The RCA opposes the DEA ban on the grounds that the agency did not comply with a regulation that requires it to consider the impact on small businesses before it takes such action. "There are a lot of jobs that depend on this," Francis says, noting that some small businesses make much of their profit from these products.
Regardless, DEA spokesperson Dawn Dearden says the agency is "moving ahead" with the prohibition of synthetic marijuana, and expects the ban to go into effect any day now.
So how can we regulate legal highs without the risk of accidentally denying ourselves potential cures for conditions like Alzheimer's? Blanket bans such as the 1986 Federal Analogue Act carry the danger of being overly broad and inadvertently prohibiting important new medications. At the same time, having to pass specific laws against every potentially harmful new substance that appears on the market could overwhelm regulatory systems.
"These are uncharted territories," says Volkow. "It's a very new thing. How the DEA, the FDA and we as an agency can navigate this is something that we are learning as we go. There's no recipe from past we can use."
From Time Healthland.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Growing San Pedro Cactus.
This section is directed at Trichocereus pachanoi (San Pedro) and Trichocereus peruvianus. The growth paramaters for these catus are the same. They are different than most columnar cacti in that they grow very rapidly, and enjoy a somewhat richer soil mix and more frequent waterings than most cacti. They are quite hardy, and will grow successfully in a wide range of conditions (I have seen very large, vigorous specimens growing unattended in the back of grass covered lawns, planted directly in the lawn soil, watered by the lawn's automatic sprinkler system). However, to achieve maximum growth rates their native environment should be imitated as closely as possible. The native habitat of these cacti is the western slopes of the Peruvian Andes, where the soil is very rich with humus and minerals, rainfall is not too scarce, and exposure to the sun and wind are at a maximum. I will describe ideal growth conditions (compiled from personal experience, books, and from the advice of someone who grows several dozen of them). However, I should begin by stating that these conditions also produce cacti with low mescaline content. The alkaloids in these cacti apparently are a defense mechanism against invading organisms, and increase during stressful conditions... particularly when the cacti are underwatered. This is a very gradual response... the mescaline content can take one or more growing seasons to increase after water starvation has commenced. Thus one strategy for raising these cactus is to purchase them at the desired size, and to "starve them out" for a full growing season before harvesting. If this is the strategy, the following "ideal growth conditions" should *NOT* be observed since they will contribute to decreases in potency!
For ideal growth, I have found the following variables to be important:
Lighting: One of the most important variables. Growth of these cacti occurs mainly during the brightest months of summer. In locations where intense, bright sunny days occur for only a few months, they will not grow rapidly. Growth can be greatly stimulated with high intensity plant growth lights such as used for marijuana cultivation, but year round operation of these 1000 watt bulbs can be very expensive. Also, as the cactus can be quite tall, care must be taken not to burn the tops of the plants. Ideally, angled lighting from both sides should be observed to allow full illumination along the entire column. When underwatering to increase potency, the cacti should be placed in a less exposed location, with partial shade. If the lighting is too bright for maximum potency increase (but not for maximum growth) the cacti will turn a lighter shade of green. This response occurs after only a few weeks, so adjust the lighting to achieve a darker shade of green.
Soil: The cacti should be planted in very porous soil. A typical cactus potting soil mix is OK, but can be improved by addition of extra pumice. The more porous the soil mix, the more frequently the cacti will have to be watered, and the less danger there will be of root rot and other problems of over-watering. However, the soil mix should also be fairly rich. I take 3 parts high pumice soil mix (much more pumice than in Hyponex cactus potting soil) and mix in one part forest compost. Additionally, I use a lot of plant fertilizer. Cactus are damaged by high nitrogen contents, so be sure to use a fertilizer with low nitrogen. Check the label... there are three digits (like 10-7-12) and the first is the nitrogen content. Use a plant food with the lowest ratio of this number to the other two. Special catus fertilizers are available... I use one called "Catus Juice" which has a 1-7-6 ratio, plus calcium which is a special factor for cactus. I feed my cactus at the recommended dilution about once a week. Don't begin this treatment immediately after repotting; let the roots set in. When attempting to increase potency, this feeding is not necessary since the cactus will not be receiving water.
Potting: These cacti like to send out far ranging lateral root systems near to the surface, so if potted they should be placed in very wide clay pots. Deep but narrow pots will result in stunted growth. Clay pots are required for proper drainage. Use of large clay pots is in many ways preferable to planting directly in the ground, since the watering, drainage, and feeding can be controlled more precisely. However, if attempting to increase potency, the cactus can be placed in small, constricted pots since good growth conditions are not desired. In any case, repotting cactus should not be idly done since it shocks the root system and injures the cactus. It is best to choose a suitable pot and stick with it.
Watering: When in full growth, the cactus should be watered quite frequently. The cactus should be watered when the subsurface soil is not damp to the touch. This will depend on many other factors. At one extreme, for a cactus in very well-drained, high pumice soil, potted in porous clay pots, receiving bright full sunlight all day long, in an exposed, windy, hot location, the cactus can be thoroughly watered every four days. If fed this frequently, the plant food concentration should be halved. One way to test soil dampness is to insert a small, clean redwood stake into the soil. If it comes out with small particles of sand clinging to it, the soil is still moist and should not be watered. During dormant winter months, the cactus should be watered much less frequently, perhaps once a month or so. This will stimulate root growth and result in faster growth during the hot season. As mentioned above, when attempting to increase potency, the cactus should not be watered at all for an entire growing season, and placed in a less exposed, partially shaded location.
info from www.lycaeum.org
For ideal growth, I have found the following variables to be important:
Lighting: One of the most important variables. Growth of these cacti occurs mainly during the brightest months of summer. In locations where intense, bright sunny days occur for only a few months, they will not grow rapidly. Growth can be greatly stimulated with high intensity plant growth lights such as used for marijuana cultivation, but year round operation of these 1000 watt bulbs can be very expensive. Also, as the cactus can be quite tall, care must be taken not to burn the tops of the plants. Ideally, angled lighting from both sides should be observed to allow full illumination along the entire column. When underwatering to increase potency, the cacti should be placed in a less exposed location, with partial shade. If the lighting is too bright for maximum potency increase (but not for maximum growth) the cacti will turn a lighter shade of green. This response occurs after only a few weeks, so adjust the lighting to achieve a darker shade of green.
Soil: The cacti should be planted in very porous soil. A typical cactus potting soil mix is OK, but can be improved by addition of extra pumice. The more porous the soil mix, the more frequently the cacti will have to be watered, and the less danger there will be of root rot and other problems of over-watering. However, the soil mix should also be fairly rich. I take 3 parts high pumice soil mix (much more pumice than in Hyponex cactus potting soil) and mix in one part forest compost. Additionally, I use a lot of plant fertilizer. Cactus are damaged by high nitrogen contents, so be sure to use a fertilizer with low nitrogen. Check the label... there are three digits (like 10-7-12) and the first is the nitrogen content. Use a plant food with the lowest ratio of this number to the other two. Special catus fertilizers are available... I use one called "Catus Juice" which has a 1-7-6 ratio, plus calcium which is a special factor for cactus. I feed my cactus at the recommended dilution about once a week. Don't begin this treatment immediately after repotting; let the roots set in. When attempting to increase potency, this feeding is not necessary since the cactus will not be receiving water.
Potting: These cacti like to send out far ranging lateral root systems near to the surface, so if potted they should be placed in very wide clay pots. Deep but narrow pots will result in stunted growth. Clay pots are required for proper drainage. Use of large clay pots is in many ways preferable to planting directly in the ground, since the watering, drainage, and feeding can be controlled more precisely. However, if attempting to increase potency, the cactus can be placed in small, constricted pots since good growth conditions are not desired. In any case, repotting cactus should not be idly done since it shocks the root system and injures the cactus. It is best to choose a suitable pot and stick with it.
Watering: When in full growth, the cactus should be watered quite frequently. The cactus should be watered when the subsurface soil is not damp to the touch. This will depend on many other factors. At one extreme, for a cactus in very well-drained, high pumice soil, potted in porous clay pots, receiving bright full sunlight all day long, in an exposed, windy, hot location, the cactus can be thoroughly watered every four days. If fed this frequently, the plant food concentration should be halved. One way to test soil dampness is to insert a small, clean redwood stake into the soil. If it comes out with small particles of sand clinging to it, the soil is still moist and should not be watered. During dormant winter months, the cactus should be watered much less frequently, perhaps once a month or so. This will stimulate root growth and result in faster growth during the hot season. As mentioned above, when attempting to increase potency, the cactus should not be watered at all for an entire growing season, and placed in a less exposed, partially shaded location.
info from www.lycaeum.org
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How To Make A Herbal Extract.
First of all the herb is ground or chopped. This can be done when the herb is in its fresh or dried form. The herb can be chopped using a spice mill, a coffee grinder, a blender, a food processor, or more traditionally a mortar and pestle. The more finely chopped the herb is the more surface area is exposed and the more effective the extraction will be in the next step.
In this step the herb is placed in the medium in which it is to be extracted. It is generally left for a period of time to steep in the medium and release it's medicinal components. A tea extract using water takes only minutes. A tincture extract with alcohol can take weeks. After extracts have been prepared, the herb is generally strained from the medium using cheesecloth, a colander, strainer, or other device to remove the herb. Storage of extracts vary depending on the medium used, but some general rules do apply. Herbal extracts are best kept in dark bottles or in dark places where they are protected from sunlight. They should be stored in glass bottles, not plastic or metal and should be tightly sealed to prevent exposure to air and contaminants. Herbal extracts should always be labeled with the herb, type of extraction and date of preparation.
In this step the herb is placed in the medium in which it is to be extracted. It is generally left for a period of time to steep in the medium and release it's medicinal components. A tea extract using water takes only minutes. A tincture extract with alcohol can take weeks. After extracts have been prepared, the herb is generally strained from the medium using cheesecloth, a colander, strainer, or other device to remove the herb. Storage of extracts vary depending on the medium used, but some general rules do apply. Herbal extracts are best kept in dark bottles or in dark places where they are protected from sunlight. They should be stored in glass bottles, not plastic or metal and should be tightly sealed to prevent exposure to air and contaminants. Herbal extracts should always be labeled with the herb, type of extraction and date of preparation.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
American State To Ban Salvia.
A little-known leaf is facing lockdown as Ottawa moves to ban a hallucinogenic herb that has turned into a YouTube hit.
At a press conference in St. Vital on Monday, St. Boniface MP Shelly Glover announced the federal government plans to put salvia divinorum onto its list of controlled substances. The move would make selling, owning or cultivating the herb a criminal offence.
Currently, salvia is sold and designated in Canada as "natural health product." This gives Health Canada the ability to limit its sale to approved vendors, though it has done little to enforce its regulations.
But while the feds move to ban the herb, one head-shop owner shrugged at the prospect of sales going up in smoke.
"The popularity goes up and down. It isn't something that goes flying off the shelves," said Bart Stras, who owns The Joint on Marion Street. "It's not like people are running in here going 'Salvia, salvia salvia!' "
After all, it isn't cheap. Sold legally at head shops as a specialty incense, a tiny bag of salvia divinorum extract will set buyers back between $24.99 and $79.99, depending on its potency. When left to smoulder, the herb produces an "earthy" aroma, Stras said.
Of course, it's not the smell Health Canada is targeting. If it is inhaled directly, salvia can produce a brief but intense high, including hallucinations. In most cases, the effects begin to fade within five to 10 minutes.
Still, that's enough to make it a hot novelty item, especially with curious youth. Glover hopes stiffer restrictions on salvia will keep the psychedelic stuff out of teens' hands. "I'm concerned about it and I don't know a single parent who wouldn't be concerned," she said. "We are very worried about the long-term effects."
According to the 2009 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey, the first to measure the spread of salvia, just over seven per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 24 had tried the substance.
Despite this, few members of the public knew about the herb until December, when partygoers uploaded a video of teen pop idol Miley Cyrus giggling uncontrollably and rapping Nicki Minaj lyrics while having what she called a "bad trip" on the stuff.
It wasn't the only hit video showing wacky antics after smoking salvia. On YouTube, hundreds of videos featuring salvia trips -- including one intrepid fellow attempting to garden and write a letter to Congress while tripping -- helped fuel headlines about the herb, which is sometimes called "magic mint."
Salvia is already banned in a handful of countries, including Australia, as well as some U.S. states, but most countries have few or no restrictions on selling, possessing or growing the plant.
Across the world, some high-profile incidents have contributed to fears about salvia's impact. The intense trips have been blamed for at least one teen suicide and a 2006 case, described by Health Canada, where an incoherent teen threatened to shoot police officers.
Stras said he's not aware of any situations locally where people were injured after choosing to smoke salvia, but stressed that ingesting it in that way is not its intended use.
If the ban does go ahead, Stras said it won't make a large impact on his shop.
"If they feel it needs to be banned, we'll comply with it," he said. "This is a product that has never had any issues as a herbal incense product... until people decided to abuse it."
melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
Mexican shamans traditional users of the member of the mint family
What is salvia?
Salvia divinorum is a plant in the mint family. Native to Mexico, the herb produces pretty flowers... and leaves rich in a unique psychotropic substance called salvinorin A.
What does it do?
For generations, Mexico's Mazatec shamans have chewed the fresh salvia leaves to trigger spiritual visions during meditation. Since the 1990s, dried leaves, and ones coated with salvinorin extract, have gained popularity in North America as a recreational drug.
What are its effects?
Effects vary, but smoking salvia usually produces a brief, intense and often unpleasant high, which generally fades within 10 minutes. Users may see dreamlike hallucinations and go on psychedelic journeys -- or just feel terrified and overwhelmed. Advocates often recommend only using it for meditation and under the guidance of a sober "sitter."
Is salvia safe?
Many are concerned that in addition to the intensity of its short-term trips, salvia could have a long-term impact on mental or physical health and more studies need to be done; at least one suicide in the U.S. has been blamed on salvia use. So far, it is not known to be physically addictive, and one study found it had very low toxicity, even at megadoses to which humans are not generally exposed.
At a press conference in St. Vital on Monday, St. Boniface MP Shelly Glover announced the federal government plans to put salvia divinorum onto its list of controlled substances. The move would make selling, owning or cultivating the herb a criminal offence.
Currently, salvia is sold and designated in Canada as "natural health product." This gives Health Canada the ability to limit its sale to approved vendors, though it has done little to enforce its regulations.
But while the feds move to ban the herb, one head-shop owner shrugged at the prospect of sales going up in smoke.
"The popularity goes up and down. It isn't something that goes flying off the shelves," said Bart Stras, who owns The Joint on Marion Street. "It's not like people are running in here going 'Salvia, salvia salvia!' "
After all, it isn't cheap. Sold legally at head shops as a specialty incense, a tiny bag of salvia divinorum extract will set buyers back between $24.99 and $79.99, depending on its potency. When left to smoulder, the herb produces an "earthy" aroma, Stras said.
Of course, it's not the smell Health Canada is targeting. If it is inhaled directly, salvia can produce a brief but intense high, including hallucinations. In most cases, the effects begin to fade within five to 10 minutes.
Still, that's enough to make it a hot novelty item, especially with curious youth. Glover hopes stiffer restrictions on salvia will keep the psychedelic stuff out of teens' hands. "I'm concerned about it and I don't know a single parent who wouldn't be concerned," she said. "We are very worried about the long-term effects."
According to the 2009 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey, the first to measure the spread of salvia, just over seven per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 24 had tried the substance.
Despite this, few members of the public knew about the herb until December, when partygoers uploaded a video of teen pop idol Miley Cyrus giggling uncontrollably and rapping Nicki Minaj lyrics while having what she called a "bad trip" on the stuff.
It wasn't the only hit video showing wacky antics after smoking salvia. On YouTube, hundreds of videos featuring salvia trips -- including one intrepid fellow attempting to garden and write a letter to Congress while tripping -- helped fuel headlines about the herb, which is sometimes called "magic mint."
Salvia is already banned in a handful of countries, including Australia, as well as some U.S. states, but most countries have few or no restrictions on selling, possessing or growing the plant.
Across the world, some high-profile incidents have contributed to fears about salvia's impact. The intense trips have been blamed for at least one teen suicide and a 2006 case, described by Health Canada, where an incoherent teen threatened to shoot police officers.
Stras said he's not aware of any situations locally where people were injured after choosing to smoke salvia, but stressed that ingesting it in that way is not its intended use.
If the ban does go ahead, Stras said it won't make a large impact on his shop.
"If they feel it needs to be banned, we'll comply with it," he said. "This is a product that has never had any issues as a herbal incense product... until people decided to abuse it."
melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
Mexican shamans traditional users of the member of the mint family
What is salvia?
Salvia divinorum is a plant in the mint family. Native to Mexico, the herb produces pretty flowers... and leaves rich in a unique psychotropic substance called salvinorin A.
What does it do?
For generations, Mexico's Mazatec shamans have chewed the fresh salvia leaves to trigger spiritual visions during meditation. Since the 1990s, dried leaves, and ones coated with salvinorin extract, have gained popularity in North America as a recreational drug.
What are its effects?
Effects vary, but smoking salvia usually produces a brief, intense and often unpleasant high, which generally fades within 10 minutes. Users may see dreamlike hallucinations and go on psychedelic journeys -- or just feel terrified and overwhelmed. Advocates often recommend only using it for meditation and under the guidance of a sober "sitter."
Is salvia safe?
Many are concerned that in addition to the intensity of its short-term trips, salvia could have a long-term impact on mental or physical health and more studies need to be done; at least one suicide in the U.S. has been blamed on salvia use. So far, it is not known to be physically addictive, and one study found it had very low toxicity, even at megadoses to which humans are not generally exposed.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Kratom Brownies Recipe.
To make 18 brownies use 135g powdered kratom leaf (or 7.5g per brownie) and add to the mixing bowl along with 2 Tbsp Cacoa powder [baking chocolate] and a level tsp of ground Clove.
Next add 5 parts honey and one part molasses to create the consistancy of bread doe - just runny enough that it will gradually level itself when left alone....Stir really well..
Bake in a tray in the oven at 300F for about 20mins.. The longer it cooks, the stiffer it gets ..It's best when the surface in the middle begins to harden slightly...
They should keep well for many weeks in the fridge.Buy Kratom
Next add 5 parts honey and one part molasses to create the consistancy of bread doe - just runny enough that it will gradually level itself when left alone....Stir really well..
Bake in a tray in the oven at 300F for about 20mins.. The longer it cooks, the stiffer it gets ..It's best when the surface in the middle begins to harden slightly...
They should keep well for many weeks in the fridge.Buy Kratom
San Fransisco Sues Local Headshops.
While drug cartel-related violence worsens in Mexico, San Francisco is trying to get to the root of its own drug problems by going after smoke shops.
San Francisco filed a lawsuit against Smokes Etc and five other local smoke shops in the Mission and Ingleside neighborhoods, accusing them of illegally selling drug paraphernalia used exclusively by crack, cocaine, and meth users.
Since last year, these shops have consistently sold the clear, tubular glass pipes that are specific to the ingestion of crack and meth. Police have persistently warned the shops that the sale of this paraphernalia is illegal. In October, police went undercover and bought crack pipes from the various smoke shops.
Shop owners have ignored all the warnings and continued to sell the drug equipment in a commercial and residential area, just five blocks from four pre-schools, a middle school, two Head Start Programs, community centers, playgrounds, and a drug and alcohol recovery center, according to the lawsuit.
It's contributing to an increased presence of drug dealers and drug users in the surrounding neighborhoods, city attorneys argue.
Supervisor John Avalos, who represents the Mission District, told SF Weekly that he never wanted that many smoke shops concentrated in one area. But are the businesses contributing to the drug movement in the neighborhood?
"It's unclear to me," Avalos said. "It's not that the neighborhood is inundated with drug dealing. so it's not that bad, but we could do better."
San Francisco filed a lawsuit against Smokes Etc and five other local smoke shops in the Mission and Ingleside neighborhoods, accusing them of illegally selling drug paraphernalia used exclusively by crack, cocaine, and meth users.
Since last year, these shops have consistently sold the clear, tubular glass pipes that are specific to the ingestion of crack and meth. Police have persistently warned the shops that the sale of this paraphernalia is illegal. In October, police went undercover and bought crack pipes from the various smoke shops.
Shop owners have ignored all the warnings and continued to sell the drug equipment in a commercial and residential area, just five blocks from four pre-schools, a middle school, two Head Start Programs, community centers, playgrounds, and a drug and alcohol recovery center, according to the lawsuit.
It's contributing to an increased presence of drug dealers and drug users in the surrounding neighborhoods, city attorneys argue.
Supervisor John Avalos, who represents the Mission District, told SF Weekly that he never wanted that many smoke shops concentrated in one area. But are the businesses contributing to the drug movement in the neighborhood?
"It's unclear to me," Avalos said. "It's not that the neighborhood is inundated with drug dealing. so it's not that bad, but we could do better."
Buy Vapourizers - Iolite Vapourizer.
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