Bizarro: The Surreal Saga of America’s Secret War on Synthetic Drugs and the Florida Kingpins It Captured

Journalist and former prosecutor Rubin debuts with a colorful and distressing study of the 1986 Analogue Act, which bans substances that have “either a chemical structure or intended effect ‘substantially similar’ to a controlled substance.” Delving into the process behind declaring a drug illicit, Rubin explains that frustrations with “underground chemists and dealers” who modified their recipes to stay one step ahead of the law, coupled with the rise of crack cocaine in the 1980s, led to a series of reforms including the Analogue Act, which preemptively outlawed any drug similar to those listed on Schedules I and II of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. From there, Rubin turns to the case of Burton Ritchie and Benjamin Galecki, cofounders of Zencense, which manufactured and distributed a product called “spice,” whose main ingredient was synthetic cannabinoids. Though Ritchie and Galecki paid taxes, avoided the use of banned chemicals, and initially cooperated with the DEA, they were arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 32 and 28 years in prison, respectively. While Rubin acknowledges the ill effects of synthetic drugs, he forcefully critiques the unscientific nature of the government’s “substantial-similarity test” and raises noteworthy alarm bells about recent efforts to “supercharge” the Analogue Act in the fight against illicit fentanyl. It’s a fascinating case study of America’s drug laws. Photos. (Apr.)

Correction: Burton Ritchie's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this review.