Pubdate: Wed, 27 Feb 2013
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Alex Consiglio

IZMS, AN ALTERNATIVE TO MARIJUANA, SKIRTS ILLEGALITY

Health Canada says the product, which uses the controversial chemical
JWH-018, is illegal, but defence lawyers and police aren't so sure

It's been linked to psychotic episodes, suicides and seizures, but a
chemical alternative to marijuana has been available in Canada for at
least two years.

Izms, an herbal mixture doused with the chemical, can be purchased
online or in local convenience, grocery or head shops. A free sample
was easily acquired by a Star reporter at a store near King St. E.,
and Sherbourne St.

Health Canada says it is illegal and subject to Schedule II of the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act because its main ingredients,
synthetic cannabinoids, are "'similar synthetic preparations' of cannabis."

But Toronto criminal defence lawyers and some police aren't so sure -
and Izms owner Adam Wookey guarantees his product is legal.

The CDSA states for a chemical to be an "analogue" of an already
controlled substance, it must have "a substantially similar chemical
structure." Health Canada says substances with the same
pharmacological effect also qualify.

But Izms' main ingredient, JWH-018, has a different structure than THC
- - the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana - and any other
cannabinoid listed in Schedule II; its pharmacological effect on the
body may also differ.

"Just because a substance is not listed specifically ... does not mean
that it is not controlled," said Health Canada spokesperson Sara
Lauer. "Health Canada determines whether a substance that is not
listed in the CDSA is captured under one of such terms."

In 2009, JWH-018 emerged in the U.S. and poison centres received
nearly 7,000 calls about it in 2011 alone. The Drug Enforcement
Administration linked it to multiple suicides and psychotic episodes.

In March 2011, the DEA exercised its "emergency scheduling authority"
to ban it until legislation was passed to amend the Controlled
Substances Act.

Canada has not taken this step and is relying on a "vague and broad"
definition to outlaw the chemical, said criminal defence lawyer Alan
Young.

"It's not a slam dunk as Health Canada says," he said. "You're just
skating on thin ice." Young said Health Canada is simply assuming it's
captured under the CDSA.

"They're kind of being lazy," he said. "It'd be very easy for them to
make the amendments - it could be done almost overnight."

Parliament can issue an Order in Council, which does not require
debate in the House of Commons, to add JWH-018 and other chemicals
from its "naphthoylindole" family to the CDSA; but with usual public
consultations that can take years.

John Huffman, who created JWH-018 in the early 1990s for research at
Clemson University, told the Star it's not for human
consumption.

"It is nasty stuff," he said from South Carolina. "It's
dangerous."

Huffman said it interacts with the body in a different way than THC,
antagonizing the body's cannabinoid receptors in a stronger fashion
and making it capable of causing psychosis, heart attacks and
seizures. "Some people it doesn't affect, others go crazy," he said.

RCMP Sgt. Ken Cornell, the national co-ordinator of chemical
diversion, said synthetic drugs are a new phenomenon in Canada.

"The name of the game is to circumvent current legislation," said
Cornell. "They're (chemicals like JWH-018) supposedly covered under
similar synthetic preparations."

Cornell said new chemicals are always coming to market that may escape
current legislation. "We don't have specific legislation," he said.

Toronto drug squad Det. Roger Desrochers, whose unit never heard of
Izms, said such products "are always a step ahead of Health Canada"
and can substitute ingredients such as hundreds of other synthetic
cannabinoids.

In the U.S., the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act was passed in
2012, listing JWH-018 and making any "cannabimimetic agents" illegal.

Edward Sapiano, a prominent criminal defence lawyer in Toronto, said
"until Parliament understands it, you can't expect police to
understand it and jump in there to clean it up."

But some police forces who have just become aware of Izms through
media inquires are going to do just that. Halton Regional Police
issued a news release Tuesday stating officers will be checking stores
for it. Police in Windsor and Niagara Falls are also launching a campaign.

Wookey isn't worried - this isn't his first rodeo with Health Canada.
Wookey, 28, was behind PurePillz, advertised as a legal alternative to
Ecstasy in the late 2000s; its main ingredient, BZP, was also not
listed under the CDSA and he "legally" sold the pills for three years.

Toronto Police tentatively linked a death to PurePillz in 2008 and
Health Canada issued a warning not to consume the product.

Wookey was never charged under the CDSA for dealing the pills, but he
is currently on trial under the Food and Drugs Act. Health Canada
added BZP to the CDSA in March 2012.

"I'd be happy to sit in court," said Wookey, who met a Star reporter
to defend Izms. "I know what I'm doing, it's totally lawful."

Wookey defends the track record of JWH-018 using "comparative
risk."

Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes kills, so smoking his product
isn't that unsafe, he said.

Wookey, who paints himself at a vanguard for regulation of
recreational drugs rather than prohibition, has a criminal history. In
2006, he was sentenced for drug trafficking after Toronto police
discovered cocaine, marijuana, guns, and debt lists in his apartment.

"What I'm trying to do now is disempower what I was empowering," he
said. "That was not right - we know that drugs are going to be
purchased so they should be sold in responsible way."
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MAP posted-by: Matt