‘Spice’ shops off limits in Va. - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

‘Spice’ shops off limits in Va.

NORFOLK, Va. — Ten Hampton Roads-area retailers have been placed off limits because they sell or have sold designer drugs collectively known as “spice.”

The Thursday announcement, from the commander of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, Rear Adm. Mark Boensel, is effective immediately. Boensel’s decision follows the recommendation of the regional Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board, which recently sent out as many as 18 letters to spice sellers in the region asking them to explain why they should not be placed off limits. All were given an opportunity to respond, the region said.

Spice products are, in most states and via the Internet, legally obtainable dried herbs sprayed with a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana that produce a marijuana-like euphoria. Their cost is roughly equivalent or even exceeds the street cost of marijuana.

The products, known by a variety of names such as Spice, K2 and Red Devil Nugz, have generated growing concern within the armed services over health concerns — their intensity varies widely and negative reactions such as seizures have been reported — and because the military does not yet have a reliable urine or blood test for any of the many synthetic cannabinoids that produce the sensation.

Service members caught at an off-limits establishment are subject to disciplinary action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, said regional spokeswoman Heather Welch.