Most people look for the spice of life, but many Indiana counties are trying to ban it.
Officials are finding out that herbal incenses, commonly known as spice, K2 and gold, are being used as a substitutes for marijuana.
Dr. Jan Kornilow, an emergency room physician at Ball Memorial Hospital, said the substitute may be worse than the real thing.
"With K2 and spice, it's a designer drug and has many of the same side effects as marijuana like becoming hostile, agitated and palpitations," he said. "The problem is you get those side effects at lower quantities."
Kornilow said many people smoke K2 similarly to how they smoke marijuana, but it's not the actual herbs that cause people to get high. Instead, the herbs are sprayed with a synthetic derivative of marijuana that causes similar effects as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
"There's a higher concentration on these spices that cause these unwanted side effects. It's been outlawed and banned in a lot of countries in Europe for a couple of years and now certain states and counties in the United States are banning it," Kornilow said.
Boone, Henry and Morgan counties have already banned the sale of K2. The Indiana State Medical Association will consider promoting a statewide ban during its annual convention later this month, according to The Associated Press.
Some people want spice banned from Delaware County as well.
County commissioner Larry Bledsoe Jr. said he supports the ban.
"It needs to be a controlled substance," he said. "I would like to ban the sale of it because it might be able to deter people who may be curious about it."
The Delaware County commissioners and the Board of Health are working together to research whether they should introduce a proposed ban, Bledsoe said.
"Normally if you see something that's being banned already, it's certainly worth looking into," he said.
Chief Gene Burton of the University Police Department said a ban would enable UPD to come up with legal remedies for disturbances caused in part by the substance.
"I've heard that we had a couple of cases this summer involved with K2 and at that point we handled it like any other call," he said. "We don't have prescribed legal remedies, so we have to take it on a case-by-case basis. The officer on duty has to do what he thinks is best in the situation."
Wishbone Gifts owner Rod Crossland said he thinks the attention the product is getting is based on the media.
"There's been a lot of hype, that's strictly it," he said. "There haven't been any reported deaths attributed directly to [spice]."
Crossland said he thinks the controversy is silly, but that some legislation is in order.
"I don't think anyone under 18 [years old] should have it," he said. "We require you to be 18 to buy it because someone with a developing body doesn't need to touch it."
Wishbone clerk Danielle Patton said she doesn't trust spice or other manmade chemicals, but she doesn't necessarily think an outright ban should be put in place.
"If they're banning it for a real reason and not just because they feel they should, then I'm fine with it," she said. "If they're just banning it for no reason, then it's just unnecessary. As far as I know, there hasn't been enough testing on it for them to know how safe or unsafe it is."
Kornilow said he doesn't know of any long-term effects, but the effects can be bad enough to send people to the hospital. He said he's seen four patients because of unwanted side effects of the drug, and he's sure they're not the only ones that have checked in.
"We don't keep track of how many people come in [for spice-related issues]," he said. "It's grown in popularity within the last year in the United States and within six months in Indiana. I hadn't even heard about it before six months ago."
According to the AP, the Indiana Poison Center has received 95 calls related to spice since February.
The unknown elements of the drug is what makes it potentially dangerous, Kornilow said.
"When you have a drug marketed for medical use, there's a lot of research unlike these drugs that were created in a laboratory under no regulation," he said. "I think a lot of people feel a false sense of security because it's sold over the counter."
Kornilow compared spice to ecstasy when it first came out. At first it was legal and nobody knew how dangerous it was. It wasn't discovered until later that it could cause severe brain damage and chronic depression, he said.
No one knows for sure how dangerous spice is, Kornilow said, especially when combined with alcohol and prescription medications.
"If you look at the packaging, it says not for human consumption. If it's on the package, why would you want to consume it?" he said. "I think eventually it will be seen as a dangerous product and be made illegal. Someone's going to have a serious side effect and die. We need to be proactive and take it off the market before people start to lose their lives."
What is K2?
A legal brand of herbal incense with a coating of a synthetic derivative THC, the active ingredient of marijuana that causes a high.
Possible side effects:
Agitation
Anxiety
Paranoia
Heart palpitations
High blood pressure
Chest pain
Disorientation
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