AIT Designer Drug Expert Speaks to Wired on Synthetic Drug Ban

In a July 12 blog post published on Wired magazine’s website, AIT Toxicologist Kevin Shanks, FTS-ABFT discusses new legislation signed into law by President Obama on July 9 banning synthetic cannabinoids. (Read the Wired blog post here)

Referred to as the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012, the federal ban outlaws about 30 chemical structures including several formulations of bath salts and allows law enforcement officials to act on newly created compounds even if they are not specifically named in the bill. (Read the TIME news story) (Read the Act starting on page 138)

In the blog post, Shanks raises potential issues regarding the ban’s effectiveness in addressing new compounds. He talked about the difficulty of categorizing designer drugs as chemically similar in an article in Wired back in May. (Read the May 30 Wired blog post)

Shanks has been actively engaged in designer drug research for the last two years and was instrumental in creating blood and urine assays for synthetic cannabinoids and a urine assay for bath salts at AIT.  He and other members of AIT’s scientific team recently published an article in the April issue of the “Journal of Analytical Toxicology” highlighting the development of AIT’s blood assay for synthetic marijuana compounds. (Read the journal article here)

To read the July 12 Wired blog post featuring Kevin Shanks, click here. 

About AIT Laboratories

AIT Laboratories, headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., is a national healthcare company that specializes in compliance testing, forensic toxicology drug testing and clinical laboratory testing. AIT is recognized nationwide for superior customer service and quality in testing. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.