Fake Marijuana

John W. Huffman is a bearded, elfin man, a professor of organic chemistry who runs model trains in his basement and tinkers with antique cars. At 79, he walks a bit unsteadily after a couple of nasty falls. Relaxing on his back porch in the Nantahala National Forest, watching hummingbirds flit across his rose beds, Huffman looks every bit the wise, venerable academic in repose. But this courtly scientist unwittingly contributed to the spread of "designer marijuana" so potent that the Drug Enforcement Administration has declared some of what he created illegal.

Twenty-eight sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan have been implicated in an investigation into the alleged use and distribution of the designer drug "spice," the Navy said Monday in San Diego. Any sailor found guilty of using the drug will be booted out of the Navy, officials said. Monday's news follows the Navy's announcement last month that 64 other sailors, including 49 assigned to the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, had been caught using or distributing spice.

Twenty-eight sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan have been implicated in an investigation into the alleged use and distribution of the designer drug "spice," the Navy said Monday in San Diego. Any sailor found guilty of using the drug will be booted out of the Navy, officials said. Monday's news follows the Navy's announcement last month that 64 other sailors, including 49 assigned to the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, had been caught using or distributing spice.

John W. Huffman is a bearded, elfin man, a professor of organic chemistry who runs model trains in his basement and tinkers with antique cars. At 79, he walks a bit unsteadily after a couple of nasty falls. Relaxing on his back porch in the Nantahala National Forest, watching hummingbirds flit across his rose beds, Huffman looks every bit the wise, venerable academic in repose. But this courtly scientist unwittingly contributed to the spread of "designer marijuana" so potent that the Drug Enforcement Administration has declared some of what he created illegal.

Sales and possession of Spice, Blaze and other "fake" marijuana products were outlawed for at least a year Tuesday by a federal agency that expressed concern about teens being harmed by smoking such products, according to an announcement. The Drug Enforcement Administration took aim at the products said to create a marijuana-like high. It used its emergency authority to ban five chemicals in such products: JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497 and cannabicyclohexano. "These products consist of plant material that has been coated with research chemicals that claim to mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and are sold at a variety of retail outlets, in head shops, and over the Internet," the DEA announcement says.

It wasn't the fake pot plant in her courtroom. Or the cigarette-smoking in her chambers. Or even the aborted courtroom wedding for infamous parent killer Lyle Menendez. What really got Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nancy Brown in trouble was kicking the bureaucrat out of her courtroom. For four years.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger found himself facing accusations that he had touched women's bodies without their consent, he apologized, saying he had been on "rowdy movie sets." But his explanation set off a furor in Hollywood on Thursday, where a wide variety of filmmakers, executives and crew members disputed his implication that this sort of behavior is common.

Breath of fresh air Re "Media gain access to L.A. County children's courts," Feb. 8 As a two-attorney couple who adopted a teenager from L.A.'s foster care system, we applaud Presiding Judge Michael Nash for removing the "cloak of invisibility" over the children's court. This was a reasonable step after decades of stalemate in Sacramento. The photo that accompanied the article showed a teenager holding a protest sign. He apparently doesn't mind having his name and picture published, so long as it's in the service of keeping the media from learning about other foster kids' experiences.

Sales and possession of Spice, Blaze and other "fake" marijuana products were outlawed for at least a year Tuesday by a federal agency that expressed concern about teens being harmed by smoking such products, according to an announcement. The Drug Enforcement Administration took aim at the products said to create a marijuana-like high. It used its emergency authority to ban five chemicals in such products: JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497 and cannabicyclohexano. "These products consist of plant material that has been coated with research chemicals that claim to mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and are sold at a variety of retail outlets, in head shops, and over the Internet," the DEA announcement says.