The chemicals in synthetic marijuana have been misunderstood by the people of this city and country. First off, these chemicals kill fewer children than abortion, alcohol, vehicles and tobacco, yet those things remain legal. In Duluth it would take between 300 and 500 years, based on the numbers, for the chemicals in synthetic marijuana to kill as many the children as abortion does in one year.
Charlie Davel's death is a good example of the ignorance surrounding this issue. Claiming K2 -- a common brand of synthetic marijuana -- killed the boy is just another example of people blindly believing that correlation implies causality. We may never know why Davel did what he did, but blaming a harmless drug is erroneous and irresponsible. How do we know it wasn't something else that made him snap?
These chemicals do not make you go insane. They are deadly in high doses but, unlike alcohol, overdosing is nearly impossible. Based on animal testing, to die from these chemicals, you would have to use around 5-10 mg/kg of body weight. For me, that would be about 600 to 1,000 mg (15 mg would get me stoned and 40 mg would make me sick). One gram of Ocean Breeze, another brand of synthetic marijuana, contains about 50 to 150 milligrams of chemical.
I would bet an origami boulder that the only reason government bodies are trying to ban this substance is to get $100 fines.
I am calling for the resignations of our Duluth city councilors and our mayor; they have failed as leaders. Banning the synthetic marijuana is criminal. We aren't stupid people. Let us pick what we want to put in our bodies.
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Quade LaHue
Duluth
