Drug Laws: Banning Brain Stimulants

Earlier this year, North Carolina banned bath salts and synthetic marijuana after media reports suggesting an increase in deaths as a result of overdoses. The reports were overblown – overdoses have been rare.

1. 4-methylmethcathinone (also known as mephedrone, sold as “Plant food”): – Class I Felony
   
2. 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (also known as MDPV, sold as “Bath Salts”); – Class I Felony (less than 1 gram is a Class 1 Misdemeanor)
   
3. and a compound, other than buproprion, that is structurally derived from 2-amino-1-phenyl-1-propanone by modification in one of the specified ways.

N.C.G.S. 90-94 adds synthetic cannabinoids (such as K-2) as a Schedule VI controlled substance (regulated the same as marijuana).

1. Class 3 misdemeanor for seven grams or less
   
2. Class 1 misdemeanor for more than seven and up to 21 grams or less
   
3. Class I felony for more than 21 grams.
   

The Federal Government is going one step further, with Congress passing a bill that governs not just specific, chemically identified substances, but prohibits “cannabimimetic agents” (substances that mimic the effects of marijuana) defined as:

any substance that is a cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1 receptor) agonist as demonstrated by binding studies and functional assays within any of the following structural classes

and any preparation

which contains any quantity of cannabimimetic agents, or which contains their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers

As Mindhacks.com notes this may be the first attempt to ban a specific brain function – which is to say, anything that binds with a specific receptor in the brain.

The Drug War has finally become essentially a battle over how your mind may function.