Adopted at the 119th Annual Conference

San Diego, CA
October 3, 2012

Supporting Class Scheduling of Synthetic Drugs
Submitted by: Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Committee
NDD.018.a12

WHEREAS, there has been a recent and frightening trend of synthetic drug use in our communities; and

WHEREAS, synthetic drug substitutes, made from chemical compounds that are sold legally in most States, mimic the hallucinogenic and stimulant properties of drugs like marijuana, cocaine, LSD, and methamphetamines; and

WHEREAS, although these synthetic drugs are just as dangerous as their traditional counterparts, they may be too new to be identified as illegal; and

WHEREAS, these products are marketed as innocent products like bath salts, plant food, and incense and are sold under brand names familiar to their users such as K2, Vanilla Sky, or Ivory Wave; and

WHEREAS, the use of synthetic marijuana (often known as "K2" or "Spice") is alarmingly high; according to the 2011 Monitoring the Future Survey, 11.4 percent of 12th graders used Spice or K2 in the past year, making it the second most commonly used illicit drug among high school seniors; and

WHEREAS, poison control centers received 2,906 calls relating to human exposure to synthetic marijuana in 2010; twice that number (6,959) were received in 2011, and 639 had been received as of January 2012; and

WHEREAS, the effects of synthetic marijuana include agitation, extreme nervousness, nausea, vomiting, tachycardia (fast racing heartbeat), elevated blood pressure, tremors, seizures, hallucinations, and dilated pupils; and

WHEREAS, the number of calls related to bath salt exposure received by poison control centers across the country increased by more than 20 times in 2011 alone; up from 304 in 2010 to 6,138; and WHEREAS, bath salt use is associated with adverse effects similar to that of cocaine, LSD, and methamphetamines including increased heart rate and blood pressure, extreme paranoia, hallucinations, and violent behavior, which causes users to harm themselves or others; and

WHEREAS, people under the influence of bath salts have committed horrific acts across the country; for example, in January 2011 in Panama City, Florida, a daughter tried to attack her sleeping mother with a machete; in June 2011 in Spanaway Washington, a 38-year-old Army Sergeant murdered his wife who was also under the influence of bath salts and then killed himself and their 5-year-old son; and in July 2011 in Bangor, Maine, a man was found standing on a street corner with an assault-style rifle and ammunition, after ingesting bath salts and imagining people crawling out of his mattress and coming to kill him; and

WHEREAS, law enforcement has difficulty combating these dangerous and potentially deadly substances because producers can easily skirt the law by modifying different chemical variations to circumvent legal prohibitions; and

WHEREAS, the passage of the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 as part of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, which was signed into law on July 9, 2012, addresses the growing use and misuse of synthetic drugs by placing a number of harmful substances on schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and would give DEA enhanced authority to temporarily schedule new variations of synthetic drugs from 1 ½ to 3 years; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) duly assembled at its 119th Annual Conference in San Diego, California, recognizes the alarming rate of synthetic drug use and its devastating effects and applauds the passage of the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012.