While sharing a name, is synthetic marijuana really a lab-created chemical with a molecule, or chemical structure,  identical to grown marijuana?

Grown marijuana,  cannabis sativa L (which is generally assumed to include or be is treated legally the same as cannabis indica), is a combination of approximately 80 to 105 different cannabinoids along with other plant material.  Much as endocannabinoids,  produced naturally by the body, these cannabinoids are also "accepted" by the body by our CB1 and CB2 receptors.  These receptors seem to perform no additional purpose and have been found in all parts of the body except for the brain stem.  It is theorized that since the brain stem is known to control the most basic bodily functions, such as breathing, and since there may be no CB1 and CB2 receptors in the brain stem, the lack of a deadly poisoning dose of marijuana may be explained.  Unlike opiates for example, marijuana cannot stop a person from breathing.

The different effects of different strains of marijuana may  be the result of varying proportions of the varying cannabinoids.  Delta-9 THC tetrahydrocannabinol,  is the major psychoactive component of marijuana,.  Another cannabinoid, CDB, or cannabidiol is associated with recent successes in reducing or eliminating seizures in youngsters while avoiding the "high".  The specific strain of marijuana for youngsters medical needs contains a drastically reduced amount of delta-9 THC, avoiding the "high" of the other marijuana strains.  Such high CDB, low THC strains have been produced by cloning various strains of the marijuana plant.  Lab duplication of CBD alone has so far proved evasive.  Additionally, the role the many other natural cannabinoids may play in the  CBD seizure reduction success is not yet known.

Synthetic marijuana is not the same thing as plant marijuana.  Variously called  Spice, K-2,  and other things, it is a at best a lab attempt to create a single cannabinoid resembling marijuana's natural psychoactive cannabinoid ,  delta-9 THC.  It is chemically different, although the molecule looks generally similar. At worst, it is an unknown chemical produced in uncontrolled labs and containing unknown additives of other potentially psychoactive components.  

Several problems are presented by the synthetic.  First, it is not the same chemical as THC or as any other natural cannabinoid.  Moving  a single atom in a molecule can drastically change the chemistry, and its the properties of the  new chemical.  For Spice, the psychoactive effect is quite different, and apparently far more intense and potentially dangerous.  Additionally, what is marketed as one of the various these synthetics may have one or a vast assortment of chemicals added,  none of which are on the label, in an attempt duplicate marijuana, a complex organic substance.  Although chemically-molecularly resembling cannabinoids, the chemistry is NOT the same.  The attempts at duplication have been unsuccessful.  Not only do the ingredients vary, with no consistency in the various forms of the synthetics, the marketed products contain varying mixes of other unidentified chemicals.  The psychoactive effect varies in unpredictable ways.  Every time it is ingested, a new science experiment is being attempted, with unpredictable results,  and with the experimenter as the subject.  It is basic science that unless interested in a "Dr Jekyll- Mr Hyde" type of experiment, one does not experiment on themselves.    For all of the years of history of general safety and non-poisonous effects of marijuana, that is not the history of synthetic cannabis.  And why should it be expected to be similar?  Does synthetic sugar taste the same as cane sugar?  

It is dangerous to confuse these two substances, one with a long history of use and experience, the other a lab creation of recent invention probably by John W. Huffman.  The drugs share part of a name.  Both are psychoactive.  The molecules appear generally similar.  The similarities end there.  The psychoactive effect of marijuana, although it varies, is generally similar.  That is Not true of the synthetics.  In addition to being of varying chemical structure, they are presented for sale in unknown combinations of generally unknown ingredients.  

Regardless of ones opinion on whether the synthetics should be legal or not, we owe it to ourselves and to our friends and children to appreciate the difference,  and to not confuse Spice or K-2 or the flavor of the weak with the marijuana plant and its products.   They share almost nothing beyond  part of a name.  If my first name was Albert, that does not mean that my last name was Einstein, or that there is any other similarity beyond general organic construction?  Trust me; it is not hard to tell the difference.   My level of  functioning, as you might surmise, is different from that of Dr. Einstein's.  

Do not let a similarity in naming for marketing purposes confuse anyone.  Do not use yourself as an experimental subject., risking unwanted, unexpected effects which may be associated with  taking the synthetics.  At least with marijuana, particularly with state oversight for purity, strength, and the like, there is a base-level of reasonable expectation of what is being consumed.

sincerely

"It's likely that Oppenneer died of some kind of head trauma, but that couldn't be determined without his head being found, police said."

As the Crown's appointed coroner Sir Robert Owen had concluded back then during a closed-door hearing, the evidence "[established] a prima facie case as to the culpability of the Russian state in the death of Alexander Litvinenko[.]" The deceased's widow Maria has since been pursuing a case in High Court to compel the government to formally open a public inquiry into her husband's death.

Medical providers in states opting out of the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may soon experience increased financial trouble, even as the mostly Republican governors continue to spurn federal funding for people lacking health insurance.

"Life did not evolve but was specially created by God, as Genesis clearly teaches. Christians certainly shouldn't expect alien life to be cropping up across the universe," he continued. "Now the Bible doesn't say whether there is or is not animal or plant life in outer space. I certainly suspect not."

But regardless of whether there was life in outer space, Ham asserted that it could not be truly "intelligent."

"You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam's sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam's sin, but because they are not Adam's descendants, they can't have salvation," he explained. "Jesus did not become the `GodKlingon' or the `GodMartian'! Only descendants of Adam can be saved. God's Son remains the `Godman' as our Savior."

A federal appeals court panel in the District struck down a major part of the 2010 health-care law Tuesday, ruling that the tax subsidies that are central to the program may not be provided in at least half of the states.

The ruling, if upheld, could potentially be more damaging to the law than last month's Supreme Court decision on contraceptives. The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with plaintiffs who argued that the language of the law barred the government from giving subsidies to people in states that chose not to set up their own insurance marketplaces. Twenty-seven states, most with Republican leaders who oppose the law, decided against setting up marketplaces, and another nine states partially opted out.

If they wanted to hand the terrorists a prize they couldn't have chosen a better way," the (anonymous Israeli) official said, adding, "If it was safe so far, why would it not be safe now? Nothing has changed. The airport has been there since Day One."

(The cremated remains of Chandler's wife Cissy, who died in 1954 and then sat forgotten in a basement storage locker at a San Diego mausoleum for 57 years, were finally interred with him at Mt. Hope in 2012.)

During his life's journey, Chandler was a devoted mama's boy, romanced and married a woman who was 18 years his senior, lost his job as an executive at the Dabney Oil Co. at age 44 due to his excessive drinking and womanizing, and then turned to his latent writing talent only because he and his wife desperately needed the money.

As a direct result of this mid-life career shift, Chandler put the city of Los Angeles on the literary map with his critically acclaimed series of Philip Marlowe novels and stories, and was further nominated for two Academy Awards for best original screenplay -- with director Billy Wilder for "Double Indemnity" in 1954, and by himself for "The Blue Dahlia" in 1946.

Chandler's Philip Marlow was the prototype cynical idealist living in the glitzy, glamorous and gritty urban jungle that was mid-20th century L.A., a dark place -- even in broad daylight -- teeming with two-timing femmes fatale, corruptible civic leaders and disreputable lowlifes, all of whom would freely take everything that wasn't nailed down, and offer very little in return. For that, Chandler is rightly remembered as the father of noir fiction, which has since become a literary and cinematic staple.

Though he often stated how he longed to return to the England of his youth, save for one brief and liquor-soaked sojourn following his wife's 1954 death, Chandler was destined to live for the rest of his life in Southern California, where L.A. -- the city he loved to hate -- would continue to serve both as his literary muse and the haunting setting for some of the most compelling crime stories and mysteries ever written.

In both remembrance and celebration, here is one of Raymond Chandler's early short stories, "I'll Be Waiting," which was first published in The Saturday Evening Post in October 1939.