Panel: 'Spice' should be banned as drug

LONDON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A commercially available smoking mixture called Spice, containing a powerful synthetic cannabinoid, should be banned in Britain, authorities say.

The product comes in slick packages and is touted as an all-natural, legal high containing Baybean and vanilla. But it also contains includes a man-made cannabinoid four or five times as potent as THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said Britain's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs will recommend to Home Secretary Alan Johnson that Spice be added to the country's list of prohibited drugs. The government is expected to introduce legislation this fall to ban Spice, followed by measures targeting other so-called legal highs.

The product is sold in head shops, which specialize in drug paraphernalia and herbs. Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had asked the council for advice on Spice, which is imported from China, The Times said.