The Standard

Issue date: 1/19/10 Section: Features

Media Credit: Matt Kile

K2, a new type of incense marketed as an exotic herbal blend, has infiltrated the Missouri State campus.

The product is available in different scents such as Summit and Citron and when burned, produces the same thick aroma of standard types of incense. However, when smoked, the blend mimics the effects of Tetrahydrocannabinol, a psychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant, that acts on the central nervous system and alters brain function.

The key ingredient in K2 that causes people to feel the same high they would if they were to smoke marijuana is known as JWH-018. It was designed by Professor John Huffman, a research professor in organic chemistry at Clemson University in South Carolina.

"An undergraduate student working in my laboratory synthesized JWH-018 during the summer of 1995," Huffman said in an e-mail. "The compound was prepared in connection with our research investigating the relationship between chemical structure and biological activity for the indole class of cannabinoids."

While most people using this new product may not know the science behind what they're smoking, they do know that it gets them high and that it's readily available.

Springfield shops Mr. Eddies and Incense and Peppermints both sell the product for around $25 for three grams and $45 for six, thus making it easy for students to get their hands on. Not to mention that at this time, the product is completely legal.

"It made me feel a lot safer because it is legal," said Caitlyn Chism, a freshman music major. "I will say I feel like you can smoke too much of it, and it can make you sick. I haven't ever personally been sick from it, but I have been around people who have. It kind of has a panic attack feel to it. Sometimes people get really shaky and get headaches."

Dean of Students Mike Jungers has had to come to the decision as to whether to treat K2 like a drug or to just react to it like any other incense.

"What I settled on is that in the residence halls, there's no burning of incense or candles allowed," Jungers said. "Let's just respond to it in terms of it is the burning of a substance, let's not get in deeper than we really can support. If there is suspicion that it's being smoked to get high, that's an opportunity through our conduct process to talk to the student about what they're doing."

Continued...

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