Facts About Spice, the Marijuana Analogue

This is for educational purposes only and I highly recommend doing your own homework before trying the stuff.

First off, NONE OF THE SPICE BLENDS HAVE THE MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF CANNABIS.

Second, this is not Salvia as some might think.

I smoked the stuff almost every day for over a year. Although there are many herbal blends that have a number of different effects on the body and mind, the effects of spice itself are not the result of smoking plant A and plant B together.

There are dozens of THC/LSD/MDMA-like chemicals that are very similar and are produced in "laboratories" (a kitchen or garage may suffice). Marinol is a controlled pharmaceutical THC. It is schedule III in the U.S. Marinol is pure THC that is able to be taken in pill form. The THC molecule itself is fairly simple, but the legalities are not so clear. By adding, subtracting, or moving a single atom on the molecule, you can get around some of the legal red tape and you have a new chemical. This is called an analogue. Again, this is a legal gray area. Some states will argue that any type of analogue should be treated the same as the actual illegal substance. JWH, HU, and WIN are synthetic versions of THC and there are a number of each.

JWH-18 is a white to beige-ish powder. From what I hear, it is mostly produced in Russia and China then shipped to the U.S. This powder is mixed with acetone (paint thinner), sprayed on the desired herbal blend (Damiana is commonly used), and baked to evaporate the acetone. Acetone is poisonous and if not done properly you can seriously hurt yourself and others. You can also just sprinkle the powder on anything like an ash screen or just shake a small bottle of crushed herbs with a few milligrams of the powder. The powder can be treated similarly to kief only it does not have the stickiness.  Unlike THC, JWH does not work in a vaporizer.  BE VERY CAREFUL AS THIS STUFF IS EFFIN STRONG! Much stronger than regular kief. I have seen people sprinkle it on a bowl of weed. I've also seen people freebase it. The simplest way seems to be just tapping the tip of a cigarette in the powder, taking a big first hit, and holding it in. Smoking the powder itself seems to give a bigger high that doesn't last as long, but it is very easy to overdose this way. I highly recommend not doing it in any of these ways. Having too much of this stuff at one time has been one of the most unpleasant experiences in my life.

The powder itself is incredibly cheap for the amount of spice you can make. From what you might spend on 5 grams of spice at a head shop, you can make 70 to 80 grams from the powder. Again, the legality of this is questionable if not outright illegal depending on what state or country you live in. The purity of whatever chemical you might use may also be questionable.

As far as drug tests go, I know people who have done them while high and have had no hint of any type of repercussions. It depends on what type of drug test you have, but what shows up on most tests is called a "false positive." They will appear negative in the confirmation test. There is a test that can detect spice, but it is very expensive and therefore not economically feasible for the most part. It is also largely unavailable to most organizations.

The high itself is very similar to that of THC. Physical and mental elation, increased appetite, reduced pain, and the tendency to drive very slow and to sometimes ramble on when talking to people. I haven't noticed any type of swelling reduction in injuries or reduced nausea. It lasts about the same too, 2-3 hours depending on strength and tolerance. The taste isn't as pleasant at cannabis, but that all depends on what herbs are used. There was one that tasted like burning hair on the inhale and BBQ pork coming out and made almost anyone gag. But it did work.

Again, NONE OF THE SPICE BLENDS HAVE THE MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF CANNABIS.

Cannabis isn't just THC. There are something like 60 other chemicals that each might play a part in its medicinal effects. Further research is still needed on the plant. The high from spice is very similar to that of cannabis, but different enough to know that it isn't as good. I have no doubt that spice is unhealthy and it might even be linked to some kind of health issue in later years. My advice to you, if you make the choice to be a user, use cannabis responsibly and do your research before trying anything new.