04/25/2012

K2 Case submissions .... Cindy Moran, quality assurance manager for the Arkansas State Crime Lab, told the Arkansas Coroners Association that her office has received 124 different synthetic cannabinoid products. She also said those 124 submitted products contain 108 different chemical compounds. Future needs to understand the designer drug trend include capturing all cases involving designer drugs and to ensure those cases are referred to the state crime lab.

K2, synthetic cannabinoids or designer drugs have been on the rise in the state of Arkansas and across the country, according to Jeffery Moran, Arkansas Department of Health environmental branch chief.

He said there were only 19 documented cases of synthetic cannabinoids in 2008, but that number skyrocketed to more than 6,000 cases in 2011. He said head shops, stores that sell paraphernalia, are the primary distribution points of synthetic cannabinoids.

Chemical compounds or synthetic cannabinoids created by numerous companies, mostly foreign, are applied to a vegetation substance and then sold under the guise of products such as K2.