Okay, so let me go through those, point by point. Firstly, a considered risk of scheduling of these substances, is their immediate replacement with new compounds. All the countries where banning has occurred, with JWH’s, now have new substances, and blends, of yet unknown ingredients. There is quite a list of potential options for replacement, in terms of cannabinoids in nature (such as endocannibinoids or cannabinoids found in foods and plants), and other potential newer synthetics, that, just like party pills, any given ban should be about banning “that particular substance”, not “these types of things in general”, if reason is to play in at all, or concern for public safety. One must also realise this is now a high revenue, international market, and as such, efforts to create new alternatives will be substantially motivated. That's the overseas experience part.

Okay, now lets look at the safety profile of these products. Now its well worth mentioning at this point, that doses of JWH itself are quite small, so with the pure compound, overdose resulting in anxiety type symptoms is entirely possible (similar to THC overdose in nature). However with the incense blends, this doesn’t happen, because its easier to dose correctly. The pure chemical also has reports of addiction, but with the incense blends, this is virtually unheard of (One or two cases of quite already munted people on the net). In fact most peoples experience, including my own is that the incense are much less addictive than their counterpart THC. So in evenly measured doses, qualitatively the general experience is somewhat similar to THC/cannabis, but with less compulsion to use.

Toxicology studies are positive in the direction of no organ damage, or toxic metabolites, although there is of course the normal harms associated with smoking (use a vapouriser or water pipe!).

So apart from slight anxiety if you smoke way too much, and normal smoking harms, there's nothing really to panic about here with the incense blends. Further toxicology studies and research is still lacking, but the initial look isn’t horrific at all. In fact, as an alternative to marijuana, for myself, I found it got me away from habituation and abuse of marijuana, into a far more moderate pattern that helped me regain my balance in life. Keeping in mind two things though: access to the pure chemical should be controlled, to avoid overdose and other nasties, and the process by which the “incense” is made, should be food safe, and not have any chemical residues. (IE a production standard of some sort).

Although there are no formal studies, as both an analgesic, and as a CB2 agonist, JWH’s have obvious medical potential. On a strictly informal level, many people report anti-nasea, and analgesic properties. And based on the pharmacology, one would except a fairly full range of related effects with potential as medicines, as low-addiction potential alternatives to medical cannabis. So far, a rather unexplored area, but I note as someone with significant pain and nausea problems, the JWH’s provide decent relief from both.

So, there are actually some positives that I hope don't get overlooked (low addiction potential of incense blends, potential medical benefits), and not a lot of negatives, unless you look at use of the pure chemicals used alone.

Personally I think regulation could be a great thing. Some point of sale stuff, safety in manufacture, limiting access to pure JWHs could help mimimize any potential harms. At this point, we are starting to know JWH’s a bit better, there has been around a decade or so of use, and the medical information and experience is promising despite some pretty uninformed fear mongering. Hopefully the EACD will give theses substances the same fair hearing that the new party pills got, so we don't have to deal with an entirely new set of products...

Please submit your experiences, and opinions on JWH’s to the EACD, so they can make as informed a decision as possible. Here's the email, of Mark Heffernan, of the ministry of health for your input on the subject:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Heres the forum thread on the topic.

And if you want to learn more about what the cannibinoid systems actually does in the brain (its involved in pregnancy, endurance exercise and more), and cannabinoids in nature, read here:

Your cannabinoid receptors and You