I can accept people would want to ban K2 based on these findings. A problem arises when one actually tries to find good data relating to the dangers of K2. Most of it is users saying they feel a certain way or emergency workers saying they observed something. The studies about K2’s effects either don’t exist or don’t prove anything. The State News’ article on the legislation’s passing includes a statement from the National Drug Intelligence Center’s, or NDIC, website that reads “K2 can cause many adverse side-effects, including a substantially elevated heart rate, vomiting, agitation and seizures.”

However, the information about the side effects of K2 comes with this disclaimer: “This SENTRY Watch is based upon source materials that have not been validated and/or researched by NDIC.”
That makes the information about as genuine as the statements offered by state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, who said, “We know that it’s harming kids as young as 10-year-olds. To wait for research to prove that it’s a carcinogen would be foolish. I think it’s important we act right away to protect children.”

It makes sense Jones wouldn’t want to wait for research because he doesn’t seem to be a big fan of offering any proof to support his claim. Instead, he offers some fear-mongering about 10-year-old children. His statement makes no sense simply because no shop is going to sell K2 to a child. Banning K2 isn’t about protecting the public; it never has been. It is about not wanting people to get high.

At least one representative, state Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade, understands this. Amash, who voted against the bill, wrote on his Facebook account, “This legislation is more about sensationalism than actual public protection.”

That goes for the countries that have banned K2 in Europe as well. Several countries — including Switzerland, Great Britain, France and Germany — have banned the sale of K2. Some of these bans have been in place since last year. But all of them have one shared characteristic: no good evidence. At best, research has proven what we already know about K2: It mimics the effects of marijuana. Not only that, but it also has produced the same kind of overreactions. Carcinogen? Check. Elevated heart rate? Check. Too potent? Check. Highly addictive? Check. Seizures? Vomiting? Check and check. All of these things were attributed to marijuana at one point in time. All subsequently were debunked in one way another. Then, as now, they were used to sow fear in the populace.

Legislators have not done their due diligence when it comes to K2. Instead they have allowed themselves to be scared into overreaction. If this becomes law, it would be next to impossible to get it taken off the books. Fear and ignorance should not be what laws are based on. Yet here we are, creating policy based on little more than a whim. This whole debacle reminds me of the saying, attributed to Mark Twain or Winston Churchill: “A lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth has time to put its boots on.”

And make no mistake, it has.

David Barker is the State News opinion editor. Reach him at barkerd@msu.edu.