A rise in the use of synthetic cannabinoids (syncans) in Houston has prompted law enforcement officials to target sellers and users of the drug. However, taking a public-health-based approach toward curbing the use of syncans, which have caused dangerous and sometimes fatal side effects in extreme cases, may be a more effective use of city resources, according to a new report from a drug policy expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Marketed as “legal weed,” syncans are not marijuana, according to the report’s author, Katharine Neill, the Baker Institute’s Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy. Known by a variety of names, including Kush, K2 and Spice and often sold in colorful packaging, syncans are manufactured chemical compounds that are usually sprayed on plant material to be smoked, but they are also available in liquid form. They are theoretically supposed to behave like…