Legal high (powders) addiction/withdrawl - help needed.

I am a drugs researcher, and have to let you know that the latest research shows that many synthetic cannabinoids are as physically addicting as heroin. Research has not yet  caught up with what is the best treatment for people hooked on synthetic cannabis (spice/mamba), but what we do know from speaking to spice users who have successfully got off this toxic much is this: (1) you can try slowly reducing your spice smoking - if you are using 6 grams a day, this would mean dropping about a gram every 7 days until you get to about 3 grams a day, then try dropping by a half-gram every 7 days; when you get to one  gram a day, switch to dropping a quarter gram every 7 days, until you get down to none. (2) You will still experience low-level withdrawals (expect some sleepless nights, get a good long novel to read etc) so use OTC symptom-specific meds to deal with other withdrawals (eg. anti-diarhoea meds, paracetamol for body pains, anti-nausea meds, etc.).  (3) some spice users have managed to come off smaller habits - about 1 to 2 grams per day - by switching back to natural cannabis, the stronger the better (eg. skunk), because it will reduce many withdrawals from spice/mamba. (4) if you have a sympathetic GP (suppressed laugh off me) try to get them to prescribe you sleeping pills or benzoes, at least for the last few weeks of your detox, when sleep will become a distant memory. If they won't help, buy whatever you need from the illicit drug scene to get some sleep, because other users who have come off spice have told us that getting some sleep makes all the difference in getting off this crap - but don't end up with another habit on benzoes or whatever, just use what you need to get to sleep for the last couple of weeks. Good luck mate - it can be done, but it will be tough, other people have done it

Hi John, see my other comments in this & other substance use topic zones for my account of the available ways of coming off spcie/mamba (synthetic cannabinoids/SCRAs) without getting overwhelming withdrawals (i.e. 2-3 month reduction regime, switching to natural cannabis, using symptom-specific meds, and/or getting your GP to prescribe benzoes and sleeping pills). By the way, when SCRAs are banned on 26th May, they will not go away, but as with other prohibited drugs, their harmful effects will then be maximized. In short, an illicit market will appear online and on streets/pubs/etc., meaning that quality/strength will become even more unpredictable, adulteration with other toxic chemicals will significantly increase, and the price will rise notably. So what we get is the same problem as before, but with adulteration, variable purity and higher prices added. Prohibition is not only ineffective, its counter-productive. Banning drugs does not help people get off them more easily, it makes it harder.  When mephedrone was banned in UK in 2010, problematic use increased. When Ireland banned 'legal highs' a few years ago (i.e. they shut down heashops as we are about to do), their use increased from 16% to 26%. Its called the paradox of prohibition. Prohibition does not work, it just makes thing worse.