USA - Spice: Synthetic drug seized by US customs at DHL hub

[chillinwill]

WILMINGTON — Customs agents at the DHL hub seized more than 100 pounds of herbal incense found to contain a powerful, synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office said Thursday, Jan. 15.

On Nov. 20, customs officers and agriculture specialists examined two arriving shipments from the Czech Republic that were labeled "herbal incense." One carton contained numerous pouches labeled "Space Diamond" and "Spice Artic Energy."

Tests for THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — proved negative. Additional tests, however, showed the packets contained a synthetic drug called HU-210, which is 100 to 800 times more potent than natural THC.

Five shipments containing more than 100 pounds HU-210 have been seized so far, with the latest seizure occurring Tuesday.

The investigation is ongoing.

By Steve Bennish
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Dayton Today
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/con...09bustweb.html

Reputation Comments on this post:

very informative

[Alfa]

Also from the same article:



Strangely enough the pictures do not seem to match the story. Have real spice products like depicted above been seized and found to contain HU-210 or does this concern fakes like space platinum, Artic energy, etc?

[bravedog]

Fascinating, thanks chillinwill and alfa. The full article does mention Genie though, which is from PsycheDeli like Spice. It's looking like the smoke mixes may contain a range of cannabinoids, quite possibly in combinations.... I'm curious what other cannabinoids if any have been tested for even if for negative results.

[enquirewithin]

HU-210? Very interesting. It looks from this that scheduling in the US will start soon for these compounds, which is a great pity. The makers were right about not selling to the US.

Reputation Comments on this post:

the makers didn't want the product shipped to the US

[runitsthepolice]

This is really cock ass swims US supplier got rid of the spice range over night. Spike99 and a few others are still available though.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by runitsthepolice

Spike99 and a few others are still available though.

That is said to be similar to Spice, as are others 'incenses.'

[bravedog]

Originally Posted by enquirewithin

HU-210? Very interesting. It looks from this that scheduling in the US will start soon for these compounds, which is a great pity. The makers were right about not selling to the US.

If memory serves HU-210 is currently already scheduled in US, different legal status from jwh

[mictihtoya]

Yep it's a Schedule I tetrahydrocannabinol.

[Alfa]

Are many US headshops and ethnobotanical shops selling these products?

[bravedog]

It's odd that the CPB press release doesn't specify exactly which brands contain HU-210, and are thus illegal for vendors and consumers in the US. It's like a food safety organization which detects salmonella and sends out a press release that doesn't specify which brands to avoid. I'm sure most businesses in the US currently vending these products in the belief they were legal, would LIKE to stop carrying any specific blends which contain a Schedule I illegal drug.

[psilocybley]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Are many US headshops and ethnobotanical shops selling these products?

The shop that SWIM works at used to, but they haven't been able to get their recent order shipped, wonder why. I think it would be foolish at this point for shops to continue selling it if they have it, now that the information is available to the public. I've read that HU-210 is unstable at human friendly temperatures, like above -20 CELCIUS. Can anyone verify that it's ACTUALLY HU-210 and this reporter didn't just hear "a research chemical like HU-210"? Can HU-210 be smoked?

[bravedog]

Originally Posted by psilocybley

Can anyone verify that it's ACTUALLY HU-210 and this reporter didn't just hear "a research chemical like HU-210"?

hxxp://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/01142009_3.xml
This identification is claimed by US Customs directly in the Customs press release linked above [change hxxp to http], though they don't specify in which blends. As a US scheduled substance, if Customs elsewhere has actually released a shipment of Spice Diamond and Synergy since, other possibilities besides controlled delivery include: HU-210 not found in those specific blends [other cannabinoids claimed found are unscheduled in US]; poor communications between offices of Customs; or even that they have backed off this identification [without removing the claim from their website].

As far as potential prosections, the major US internet vendor has removed all likely blends from his site and doesn't reply to questions about this. As Spice manufacturers specifically denied HU-210 had been included in Spice and the US vendors presumably believed this it is unclear whether prosecution of them would be successful, and the manufacturers are outside the US.

[robo scat]

Swim recently ordered a small bag of Spice from an online supplier in the UK.

Did swim pick the wrong time to make an order?
From the looks of all the hubbub regarding Spice at U.S. Customs, it's looking like swim's package may not arrive.

Swim is in the process of contacting his supplier to find out what's going on.

[nibble]

Originally Posted by robo scat

Swim recently ordered a small bag of Spice from an online supplier in the UK.

Did swim pick the wrong time to make an order?
From the looks of all the hubbub regarding Spice at U.S. Customs, it's looking like swim's package may not arrive.

Swim is in the process of contacting his supplier to find out what's going on.

The siezed packages were released, and I believe customs is now saying that HU-210 was not found in them..

[psilocybley]

Originally Posted by robo scat

Swim recently ordered a small bag of Spice from an online supplier in the UK.

Did swim pick the wrong time to make an order?
From the looks of all the hubbub regarding Spice at U.S. Customs, it's looking like swim's package may not arrive.

Swim is in the process of contacting his supplier to find out what's going on.

If what you ordered was PEP Spice then you're getting a very plain and boring smoking blend. Customs did indeed release the package, and at SWIM's store we still have a handful of packets left.

[Jasim]

Swim hasn't seen any shops selling these products. (But didn't look for them until after the Germans had uncovered the secret).

HU-210?!?! Seriously! I thought the Germans just found JWH-018. HU-210 is the most potent cannabinoid I know of. Much more potent than any JWH chemical.

[Alfa]

Well it gets stranger and stranger. Apparently other German researchers now claim that spice contains cp 47497. These people need to make up their mind.

[Jasim]

Wow, swim bought some herbal 'Chill' just to try it out, right before the whole Spice fiasco. Guess he chose the wrong brand
Epic fail on swim's part. Should have went with the most popular one, but swim always has to be different.

[runitsthepolice]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Are many US headshops and ethnobotanical shops selling these products?

Yes, at least they were before the discovery but they are now replaced by things like spike99 and smoke (spike99 blueberry is delicious but smoke tastes like a bag of dicks). This happened overnight.

Swim wants to point out since someone didn't like my previous post (GRR SWIM HATE RED BOX) what US suppliers are carrying is obviously relevant to this discussion.

[enquirewithin]

Perhaps the incense makers concerned are mixing and blending their cannaboids and cannaboid- type materials?

[psilocybley]

^^ That's one of the things that came to mind. I've seen some real evidence of HU-210, so maybe they've been mixing it up over there.

[psilocybley]

Okay so here's something that puzzles me a little. SWIM works at a smoke shop that has always carried spice. The day the package was seized in Florida, the guy that SWIM's store buys from called the store to say the package had been seized by customs agents. What's strange is that after they seized the package, they turned it back over to the recipient. SWIM's store only ordered the Spice Diamond and two flavored spice packs: Arctic Synergy and Tropical Synergy.

If customs agents knew that Spice contains HU-210, and obviously they would know that HU-210 is a schedule 1 substance, why would they let the package go on its way? SWIM's store has Spice in stock, so it DEFINITELY had to have been released by customs.

Could it be they never tested these types of spice and only held ones they had tested? And why isn't someone in jail if HU-210 was really in Spice? SWIM just hopes they aren't doing something like watching where the spice goes so when they do emergency scheduling they can start making arrests, after all, the more the merrier with those fuckers.


Will post more info about this topic when SWIM gets more information.

[Tsalagi]

Just as swim found out about Spice products, it got jerked from the counters at her local head shop! What a shit! Swim only got to try 2 small baggies of 1/2g Spice and she liked it oh so much... now it's virtually only available on Ebay, if one could trust that muck.

Obama.. please decriminalize cannabis. You would rock swim's world

[Alfa]

Do you have a source for that?

[bravedog]

US Customs and Border Patrol government website still posts this claim so it is unlikely it has been withdrawn:
hxxp://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/january_2009/01142009_3.xml
However the URL has changed, perhaps this is the source of confusion?