( CNN ) -- The recent emergence in the United States of `` K2 , '' sometimes called synthetic marijuana , is testing lawmakers to see if they 've been paying attention to the failures of marijuana prohibition and will respond to K2 with enlightened policy . The first stories on K2 , or `` Spice , '' broke out with headlines labeling the mixture of herbs and spices , which are treated with a synthetic compound , as `` fake pot . '' K2 was virtually unknown until the media hyped up its presence at tobacco and novelty shops . Under U.S. law , and in all 50 states , the herbal product is legal , and also unregulated . People who have tried K2 often report psychoactive effects that are comparable to marijuana , but notably less pleasurable . When lawmakers consider regulating K2 , they should keep in mind that the government has waged a futile war against marijuana and people who use the drug for decades . For another opinion , click here . Elected officials have burned through billions of taxpayer dollars chasing marijuana sellers , bagging marijuana plants and jailing marijuana users . Government-funded media campaigns have sought to scare children and adults away from marijuana with grossly exaggerated claims that using the drug will lead to death and mayhem . Despite all of these efforts , the public has largely dismissed the myths and hysteria around marijuana and recognized that the drug has important medicinal benefits . Moreover , public opinion is leaning in favor of a regulated and taxed market for marijuana . Researchers who have tested K2 identified synthetic chemicals that are thought to mimic the psychoactive component in marijuana . These chemicals are thought to act on the cannabinoid receptors in the brain much the way that THC -- the principal psychoactive component in marijuana -- operates . What 's notable about these synthetic chemicals is that very little is known about them , and this legal alternative designed to deliver an experience like marijuana may actually carry more risk . Thus we have a supreme irony of drug prohibition : The government continues to criminalize marijuana -- a drug with established medical value that has undergone exhaustive study -- and entrepreneurs introduce a legal alternative to marijuana with ingredients scientists know little about . Given this potential for harm , and the growing volume of sensational media portrayals of K2 , some lawmakers have ignored the lessons learned from marijuana prohibition and moved to criminalize possession and sales of K2 . Lawmakers in Kansas , Kentucky and Missouri have already written legislation to ban the herbal mix . It seems that a reporter need only write an article about an obscure bag of twigs to spur a lawmaker to criminalize more chemicals and the people who use them . Time and time again , elected officials have dropped the ball when it comes to regulating drugs . Lawmakers have preferred to lazily pass the responsibility of controlling a drug on to law enforcement and the criminal justice system . The problem is , we know from marijuana prohibition that law enforcement has no control over the drug market and the criminals who run it . Criminalizing K2 will only worsen the devastating harm our society already suffers under drug prohibition . Rather than regulation of the supply and ingredients of K2 , criminalization leaves the question of what goes into the product up to drug dealers . Rather than passing regulations that bar K2 sales to minors , criminalizing K2 will essentially give dealers the green light to sell the product to whomever they please . By choosing to ban K2 outright , lawmakers will also forfeit badly needed state revenue from K2 sales and instead commit millions of taxpayer dollars to investigate , prosecute and jail K2 users . Plus , researchers point out that hundreds of other known synthetic chemicals will easily reach store shelves once K2 is banned . The sensible legislative response to K2 is to create effective regulatory controls on sale and possession . California and Maine have passed model legislation that formally regulates and taxes adult sales of salvia divinorium -- another product with psychoactive properties -- and criminalizes salvia sales to minors . Lawmakers should deliver a knockout to prohibition and pass laws that will actually regulate and control K2 . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Grant Smith .
Grant Smith : ` ` K2 , '' sometimes called synthetic marijuana , should be regulated for safety . But , he says , lawmakers must not duplicate costly , futile war against marijuana . Without the treated herbal , K2 will turn trade over to drug dealers , he writes . Smith : Regulating K2 generates revenue , saves millions on prosecution of offenders .