by When I think of “K2” — I think of snow and a 1983 Broadway show:
In the play K2, which opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in New York in late March, two men are trapped on a tiny shelf of ice 27,000 feet up on K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. They’re in desperate straits. One man has a severely injured leg and the other has lost a vitally important length of climbing rope. They face an impossible task in getting themselves down off the mountain.
My, how times have changed! Today, K2 still deals with a mountaintop — but only in the molehill of your mind.
K2 is the street name for a nefarious sort of “fake marijuana” that States across the nation were taking steps to ban — along with “Spice” (an A.K.A for K2) — and Salvia, made infamous famous by Miley Cyrus video bong hit, and caffeinated alcohol drinks.
The DEA, concerned the States were not moving fast enough to ban K2, stepped in to the morass with a Federal mandate:
MAR 01 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today exercised its emergency scheduling authority to control five chemicals (JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497, and cannabicyclohexanol) used to make so-called “fake pot” products. Except as authorized by law, this action makes possessing and selling these chemicals or the products that contain them illegal in the United States. This emergency action was necessary to prevent an imminent threat to public health and safety. The temporary scheduling action will remain in effect for at least one year while the DEA and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) further study whether these chemicals should be permanently controlled.
Do we really want the DEA mandating these sorts of health issues over States rights? If a State wants to have a K2 business enterprise, and tax the product, should the DEA step in and say, “Oh, no you don’t?”
Prohibition failed.
However, the Federal Claritin ban — perhaps “hassle” is a better word than “ban,” even though the chilling result is the same — is still in effect.
Where should we draw the bright line between personal preference and Federal mandate? Why hasn’t the DEA banned Miley Cyrus yet?
If the stuff is sufficiently toxic, should it not be banned by the DEA?
Why step in if the State are already in the process of banning it? That Federal overstepping confuses matters in some cases — like medicinal marijuana being legal in some States but never on the Federal level. Who is prosecutable? Who is protected?
That is quite confusing, David — if it’s so bad, everyone should agree to ban it or not ban it.
Right. Why confuse the morality of the jurisdiction — especially when it comes to “medicinal” healing? The States might want to reserve their own domain when it comes to that sort of botany.