For those who conduct drug testing as a background check for their employment screening program, I am sure you are aware of the new synthetic drugs that have reportedly caused some very bizarre behavior.
President Obama just signed into a new law making “Bath Salts,” and synthetic marijuana, known as “K2 or “Spice,”” illegal.
According to the posting by our drug screening partner, Quest Diagnostics,…….”Use of synthetic marijuana is alarmingly high. According to data from the 2011 Monitoring the Future survey of youth drug-use trends, 11.4 percent of high school seniors used Spice or K2 in the past year, making it the second most commonly used illicit drug among seniors.
In 2010, there were 2,900 calls to U.S. poison control centers related to synthetic marijuana. In 2011, there were nearly 7,000 calls and 2,800 calls through May 2012.
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The new law will make it easier for law enforcement agencies to take enforcement action against the manufacturers, importers and sellers of these products. However, Federal and State authorities will need to remain vigilant and continue to update their list of prohibited substances as manufacturers continue to make chemical modifications to get around the new legislation. Based on recent information presented at the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT) national meeting in Boston last week, it already appears that some of the latest products have a chemical structure designed to circumvent this latest legislation.”
