The latest scam and outrage to come from internet con man Alexandre Dimov is perhaps the most dangerous of all. He began selling K2 incense last year and discovered he could make a lot more money than selling salvia (and ripping people off) by selling K2 which he markets as incense but is in reality a marijuana substitute containing synthetic cannabinoids untested on humans. He billed himself as the largest and only "authorized distributor" of K2.
Then people began to get sick. Lots of them - over 350 REPORTED cases of hospitalizations since just February of this year. All of them had ingested K2 and been hospitalized with some or all of the following symptoms: tachycardia, respiratory distress, syncope, vomiting, hypertension, anxiety and confusion. Last year, a 14 year old boy from Fair Play Missouri went into respiratory arrest after ingesting K2. Paramedics revived him but he was close to becoming the first known K2 fatality. A few cases continued to experience symptoms for weeks after ingesting K2. It takes only a few minutes of searching Google News to realize the increasing amount of people becoming sick and suffering serious adverse effects from K2.
Perhaps fearing he would rightly be held liable for his dangerous product making hundreds of people seriously ill, Alex decided to blame "counterfeiters" for making the "bad" K2 that was making everyone ill. Only the K2 sold by anyone possessing the magical "authorized distributor" seal was safe to buy according to him. After all, he has held the K2 trademark since it's been in existence, right? Nope. According to TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office), the date of filing for the K2 incense trademark was - JUNE 8, 2010!! Here he was telling everyone who visited his site for months that he was the only one authorized to sell under the K2 name and he was lying (once again) because he did not even have a trademark for it. He does claim a first use date of 3/27/2009 only because no one was selling it before that and he wanted to have the APPEARANCE of being the first. The trademark serial number is 85057245 for anyone who wants to look it up. The owner is listed as KTW Enterprises, LTD CORPORATION OREGON PO BOX 19149 Portland OREGON 97280 which is associated with his site k2wholesale.com.
This statement is currently posted on k2-incense.com: "DO NOT PURCHASE K2 FROM FLORIDA: IT'S COUNTERFEIT! WE ENCOURAGE FEDERAL & STATE AUTHORITIES TO SEIZE ANY & ALL PRODUCT SOLD IN FLORIDA, LABELED AS "K2." The company associated with that site is Extraordinary Transformations, Inc. Guess what state it's registered in? If you guessed Florida, you were right. The corporation became active on 1/1/2010 and the officer listed is Cynthia R. Brown of 11558 Captiva Kay Drive, Riverview, Florida 33569. The filing date was 12/24/2009. The domain name k2-incense.com was created on 12/12/2009 indicating that this company is indeed run out of Florida, the very state he asks to seize counterfeit K2. This is merely an attempt to hide his whereabouts (he certainly can't be in Nevada, Oregon and Florida at the same time) and try to misdirect attention away from himself and avoid accountability for the many people he has made ill with his dangerous product. As a bonus, if the "counterfeit" K2 were to be seized, he eliminates the competition. After all, he can't be a counterfeiter since he has owned the K2 incense trademark for a whole week now, right?
Alex thinks you should blame everyone - except him. According to him, you should blame the government because they make the dangerous substances people like to take illegal. You should blame the "counterfeiters" for making fake K2 in "filthy back rooms and warehouses". Blame the people who buy it and smoke it even though he says it is not for human consumption. (Guess what Alex? Incense is going to be inhaled even if it is done passively. You know people will breathe that garbage in so your "not for human consumption" doesn't cut it.) Just don't blame him - even though he knows his product has sickened hundreds. Even though he knows JWH-018 and JWH-073 are untested for long term effects on humans and are illegal to sell without FDA approval which they will never give. That's why Alex hates the FDA so much. That and the fact that they busted his buddy Jon Sloan of Bouncing Bear Botanicals in February of this year.
Now Alex is promoting a new K2 on his site which he claims is legal anywhere. That must mean it has no JWH compunds in it, right Alex? Then why would anyone want to buy it? You know d**n well people are buying K2 to smoke and not to use as incense.
What new ingredient does it contain that is legal everywhere? And most of all, why won't you tell anyone what it is? The consumer has a right to know what kind of poison you are now selling.
I understand people are tempted to buy this dangerous crap because they don't want anything to show up on a drug test or because they can't get arrested for it (in most states for right now) but is it worth your health or your life? Spending a night in the hospital or continuing to have very unpleasant symptoms for sometimes weeks after using K2 is not worth catching a brief high that is even MORE expensive than marijuana. You are paying premium prices for an inferior and very dangerous product if you buy K2. NONE OF IT IS SAFE. Read the news reports. Look up statements made by Professor John W. Huffman of Clemson University who invented the synthetic cannabinoids used in K2. He states that anyone using these compounds to get high "is an idiot" and that there are no long term studies on their effects on humans, although "they probably break down into carcinogens".
You need to value your own lives because Alex values no one's but his own. He doesn't get care if you get ill or die from his product as long as he makes money and isn't held accountable. Please do not buy K2 from ANYBODY. You simply never know what you're getting and it could well be more than you bargained for. Death - no extra charge.
A very unhappy birthday to you Alex. The day they arrest you can't come soon enough.