Norton Commission to Examine Real Consequences of Synthetic Drug November 27

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) Commission on Black Men and Boys will hold its rescheduled roundtable hearing on the increasing use of synthetic marijuana by young people in the District on Tuesday, November 27, 2012, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (901 G Street NW) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Synthetic marijuana, or K2, has effects that have been compared to those of LSD. The commission will hear from two young men from D.C., Gene Harvey and Elijah Kiah, as well as two experts, DC Prevention Center Program Director Charles Dark and Psychiatric Institute of Washington Community Development Special Project Coordinator Lonnie Hutchinson. Time has been set aside during the roundtable hearing for audience members to offer their own brief testimony or ask questions, as is the custom of the commission at community hearings.

"K2 may be a synthetic drug, but its threat and consequences are real," Norton said. "Our Commission on Black Men and Boys will take a candid look at this problem facing D.C. youth with the help of testimony from two experts and two young men. We are not the only community grappling with synthetic marijuana, but we mean to do all we can to bring to the forefront information about new drugs that threaten our young people. Our Commission on Black Men and Boys is an ideal messenger."

Norton established the Commission on Black Men and Boys, which is chaired by former D.C. police chief Isaac Fulwood, to provide a thoughtful forum for discussion and problem-solving on some of the most persistent and controversial issues faced by African American men and youth and their families, including crime, drugs, high unemployment, and education deficits.

Published: November 19, 2012