Lawmakers Go after Marijuana, Heroin Alternatives

By Bill McMorris, Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Marijuana and heroin are already illegal. Now, state lawmakers are working to ban offshoots of the two the drugs.

State Reps. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, and Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, have crafted separate legislation that would outlaw K2, a legal alternative to marijuana readily available in Illinois that can be smoked or burned as incense.

K2 is a mixture of Asian herbs coated in a substance similar to THC, the narcotic ingredient in marijuana. The substance is being marketed as producing a legal high much similar to that of marijuana.

But marijuana and K2 would have even more in common under Poe's proposal — both would be considered Class I narcotics, defined as a medically unnecessary substance with a high potential for abuse.

This week, Kansas was the first state in the country to ban K2, and lawmakers in Missouri and Illinois are vying to become the second. The substance is already banned in the U.S. military and several European nations.

The Illinois House unanimously passed Poe's legislation on Thursday.

On Friday, Dunkin wanted to take his legislation one step further — although he appeared confused on which direction to take when amending his proposal on the House floor. The Chicago Democrat sought to ban substances like Alphacetylmethadol , which he described as "another synthetic cannibal."

"This bill adds two more synthetic substances to the K2 substance control," he said.

But Alphacetylmethadol is already illegal in Illinois. And the drug and several others mentioned by Dunkin are actually synthetic opioids – substances with effects similar to heroin, not marijuana.

Dunkin's inability to describe the drugs within his own amendment prompted fellow Chicago Democrat John Fritchey to suggest the lawmaker study up on what he actually wanted to ban.

"Representative, let me make a suggestion and I'm not trying to trip you up here–I'm trying to keep the body from getting tripped up," he said. "You may want to pull this until we find out what is is we're trying to make a Schedule I banned substance."

Dunkin's amendment passed, however, and his legislation now moves to final stages of debate in the House.