Society still lags in finding solutions to drug problems

In our news pages lately we’ve been relating discussions surrounding a class of drugs that has come to be pretty widely available in the Mat-Su Valley.

Synthetic or designer drugs are a relatively new breed of intoxicants cooked up in laboratories and sold as products labeled “not for human consumption.” But everyone involved — from manufacturers to retailers to consumers — knows the products are meant to be smoked, snorted or, in very rare cases, injected intravenously.

Lawmakers have tried to outlaw the type meant to simulate marijuana. But one of our reporters discovered this week that those efforts were more or less a failure.

Retailers locally still carry the stuff. It took our reporter a few tips from readers and an hour waiting for a head shop to open one morning to find a packet of the stuff for sale. That law was passed last year. So if there was any interruption in the supply it didn’t last longer than a few months.

Despite that apparent failure in Juneau, lawmakers next session say they plan to attempt to give the same treatment to a class of these synthetic drugs called “bath salts,” which simulate drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine.

We hold out little hope for such a law’s success.

First, a word about the appeal of these drugs. For the vast majority of users, the high is a positive experience, or at least not a bad one. Just to be clear — the resulting addiction, we understand, is far from positive.

But drugs are attractive for a reason — the highs produce euphoria and euphoria is, in the short term, a positive experience. Until lawmakers find a way to catch up with the chemists, these synthetic drugs are legal, which also conveys an illusion of safety to users. But we have also heard the horror stories, even recounted a few in these pages. Some people react badly to these drugs, and it’s unclear whether such reactions are the result of body chemistry or imperfections in the drug.

These substances are essentially unregulated — indeed, that “not for consumption” warning is the manufacturers’ method of circumventing such review. There’s no way to know whether what’s in those foil wrappers is in fact safe for people to consume. It could conceivably contain poison, or be a bad batch, for all buyers know.

We’re inclined to believe that the freak-outs from those who have imbibed these drugs — like the man crab-walking out of a ditch with two troopers on his chest and the man running down Crusey Street naked — are the result of poor oversight or unscrupulous manufacturers.

So what’s the solution? There needs to be one. These freak-outs are taking up valuable police time and have proven to be a danger to public safety.

It’s also clear our current laws have not been successful in eradicating even the ancillary problems associated with drugs. Pick any random burglary in the police blotter and the smart money says the stuff was stolen to fund a drug habit.

Is there a better approach? We wish we had a satisfactory answer to that, but lawmakers again have a chance here to find one.