Of course there should be age restrictions on k2 incense, as with tobacco and alcohol, but these bans are just another knee-jerk reaction by our Government to control what we can and cannot do. They were passing emergency bans and proclaiming danger before they even knew anything at all about it. These guys, http://www.buyk2incense.com claim to have k2 incense products that aren't restricted in any state by any current ban. So as you see, not only are these petty bans exhausting resources we don't have, they are pretty much useless! It's just going to continue to morph and the authorities are going to continue wasting time and money. People will still buy k2 incense. And so on and so on. Same old cycle.

concernedfortupelo: If you want to keep it away from your kids, the only way to get even close to realizing that is through legalization.

The facts are there for all to see, if they'll see them.

FACT: It's harder for kids to buy alcohol and cigarettes than it is for them to buy illegal drugs.

FACT: Criminals don't care who they sell their products to.

FACT: Legalization takes the profit out of drugs for criminals. They'll get out of the business if there's no profit in it.

FACT: There are more drugs on the streets today than ever before, even after 80 years, hundreds of BILLIONS spent and MILLIONS incarcerated.

FACT: The Netherlands where marijuana is defacto legal has one of the lowest lifetime usage rates (22.6% ages 15-64 have tried) in the world. They're the lower than France (26.4%), UK(30% ages 15-59), Spain (28.6%) and Italy (29.3%) in Europe and a LOT lower than the US, where the usage rate is higher than all of the major European countries at 40%.

FACT: The European country with the most liberal drug policy, Portugal, where all criminal penalties for possession of marijuana, herion, cocaine, and methamphetamine were abolished in 2001 has the lowest usage rate in Europe only 10%.

According to TIME Magazine:

"The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.

"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."

"Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana."

Read the article at:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

The sad reality is that Mississippians can't get down off their moral high horses long enough to actually solve problems.

They're not smart enough to realize that sometimes another approach that doesn't 100% align with their own ideas is actually the way to really solve the problem for everyone, even themselves.

They'd rather just stay with the plan that has never worked in the name of their morality.

Meanwhile drugs are more available to kids than ever before and our prisons have more non-violent drug offenders in then than ever before.

It'll take at least 10 years after the other 49 states have legalized marijuana, and they will in my lifetime, for Mississippi to realize that legalization is actually the solution.

Bottom line, most Mississippians are just not smart enough to recognize what works and what doesn't.

For me, 80 years is long enough to see if something is going to work or not.

It hasn't, and it won't.

It's time for a new approach.

One that has already been shown to work to limit access of drugs (alcohol and nicotine) to kids.

concernedfortupelo: If you want to make marijuana harder for kids to get, legalize it.

It's harder for kids to buy a 6-pack of beer or a pack of cigarettes than it is for them to buy marijuana.

BTW, CBS reported that the percentage of people 18-59 who have tried marijuana in The Netherlands, WHERE IT'S LEGAL, is only 26% compared to the United States where 40% have tried it.

The drug war is completely ineffective. In 1927 when the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was formed, it's budget was $1.5M.

The 2010 DEA budget request is in EXCESS OF $2 BILLION and there are more drugs available to more people in more places in the US than ever before.

THAT'S A FAILED PROGRAM!!

Prohibition doesn't work, PERIOD. And there's a history of 80 years and BILLIONS spent that prove that.

What's that definition of insanity?

I don't understand all the fuss. Ya'll let drunks driver on our highways and people pollute our air with their cig. How come ya haven't out laws those two poisons. The are ten times worst the this herb. I think you should take care of the real poisons before you start messing with something some miner. I was married to a drunk for 27 years. He was arrested I don't know how many times and all your courts did was slap him on the hand and let him go. I guess ya are waiting on him to kill someone before you do something. those two deadly thing should be looked at first before ya'll do anything else. I don't smole, drink or do drugs. But I do alot of reading and from what I see the really bad stuff stays legal while you are looking at something that is not that important. Take alook around. How many people died each year from alchol and cig. Now read the paper, where in it have you seen anyone in the last 20 years dying from this new herb. Oh, by the way it's not new, it has been around for awhile. Not get off you tails and get the real garabage off the street. ( and both are legal if you are of age) ..........

I love the way these stories always bring out the idiots who want to legalize dope.

ZX14

Make marijuana LEGAL today and people will still shoot, snort, and ingest other drugs. The facts about marijuana are true. Harmless when compared to others.

Bottom line is that we are talking about two different effects. Some look for a high and others a low.

Marijuana does not have to be legalized in order to smoke it. Move to CA and toke up my friend. Just do not tell me that we need to make it LEGAL for my children to enjoy.......

The artificial urgency with which they are addressing this issue does seem silly.

As others have said, this stuff has been around for awhile now and is, and will continue to be readily available online until there's a federal law making it illegal to sell and ship it in the US.

What people really need to realize is that substances like this and methamphetamine are a direct result of the failed "War On Drugs" that we keep fighting futilely.

While I don't use any recreational drugs, stuff like this and meth are perfect examples of things that are created because of the illegality of drugs like marijuana and that are actually more dangerous than pot.

If I were going to put a substance into my body, I would much prefer one that grows out of the ground naturally to one that is made up of who knows what chemicals, etc. and is concocted in some lab somewhere.

If marijuana was available legally, there would be no reason for the creation of dangerous substances like this stuff.

So, I say legalize marijuana and regulate its production and sale and tax it heavily and use part of those taxes to help with in the treatment of those who become "addicted", although there is no peer-reviewed medical proof that marijuana is addictive and there is no documented evidence of anyone ever dying from an overdose of marijuana.

This seems like a solution in search of a problem.

This stuff has been around for months, if not a year or more. And the national media (reported on it months ago) and other local media reported on it some time ago (WCBI covered it last month), yet now it has such urgency that they have to suspend all the rules to get a ban in place.

Typical knee jerk "Ready. Fire. Aim." response to a non-issue.

I'm all for addressing things before they become problems, but I find it interesting that they can do that with this, but can't seem to be able to do so with much else.

So, there's 1 place in Tupelo that will have to stop selling this stuff? Big deal. And at least that place said that they weren't selling to anyone under 18 and the sale of the product generated a little sales tax.

The pot dealer on the corner pays no taxes on the sale of his product and is happy, and actually prefers, to sell his product to kids.

And what about the Internet? There is no federal law against the sale, possession or use of this substance and I just found dozens of sources that all deliver right to my mailbox or front door. I don't have to leave the house, show any ID or provide anything other than a credit card number and a shipping address.

My point is that this action by the Tupelo City Council is silly and will have ZERO impact on the use of this substance by the people who want to use it.

The Tupelo City Council can't seem to solve the real problems facing the city, so I guess this gives them a chance to appear as if they're actually doing something, huh?

What a bunch of bozos!!

This stuff has been available for months, but yet now it's an emergency that has to be acted on right now!

These people never miss an opportunity to look like IDIOTS!