The Vice Channel is reporting that the 'designer drug' known as Spice has hit the Russian streets. Heroin is doing what it has done in the US: the bad effects are becoming widely known and unpopular, so as the users die off, new ones are less likely to get started.
Spice hit the US streets a few years ago, but its 'bad trips' have helped curtail its abuse. Besides, with marijuana legalization basically a reality in much of the US, pot is still a much more attractive alternative.
Of course, Russia is also fighting an additional battle, one that we in the West are also dealing with, but in a different way. If you watch this RT video, you'll notice one of the dealers has a 'Salafi-style' beard:
Of course, Russia is also fighting an additional battle, one that we in the West are also dealing with, but in a different way. If you watch this RT video, you'll notice one of the dealers has a 'Salafi-style' beard:
Russia has a large Shia Moslem community, which the Saudis have spent years infecting with Radical Sunni (a.k.a. Salafi, Wahabi, etc.) Islam. Saudi success meant years of conflict in Chechnya. If these guys are Salafis, then chances are they are tangled up in Russia's own 'War on Terror.'
Of course, the Great Legalization Crusade in America is happening at a time when, as the same channel reports, the Dutch are gradually shutting off the spigot on marijuana:
The rest of Europe is tired of dealing with the expenses of Holland's permissive attitude. There is also the growing sense that the time to play is over as the 'guest workers' are gradually becoming a force of their own to be dealt with and, after this summer's race roils in France, Sweden, and Italy, Europeans are beginning to realize that they might have to come back from holiday and start doing something about their culture of infertility.
As for the US, Colorado is already starting to have its regrets over the legalization process, which now has a majority of the consumption not in cigarettes and pipes, but in 'edible' forms to avoid the nasty smoke. Attempts to stop the distillation of marijuana have been stymied, and for good reason: the only reason anyone uses marijuana is to get high. Again, that attitude with any other drug, or alcohol, would get you public consternation. Here, we accept that it is nothing but an intoxicant.
While other states are toying with legalization, the fervor is over as other states see Colorado's problems. Already, people are now worried that these edible marijuana products are going to end up in Halloween treats for children.
Is that far-fetched? With so many people hyping the benefits of marijuana, even for children, how many people out there might try to 'share the benefits?'
The mental illness of the drug world is tragic. We will just have to wait and see.