Feds ban synthetic marijuana Law takes effect in October

By Rusty Murry

Nevada Daily Mail

Synthetic marijuana has been making news for a couple of years now; most recently in Vernon County, about 12 packets of the substance were stolen from a local business in a break-in last weekend -- for the second time.

Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman said that in the most recent incident, the thief went directly to the shelf where the substance was located, took the packets from the shelf and left. The man did not take anything else from the store.

The manmade substances are marketed and sold as incense or potpourri. Most of them have labeling that clearly states the product is not for human consumption. A common name for the product is K-2, and it is sold under a variety of brand names in several different states. That has been changing, because of the health risks the often unknown ingredients pose to people who smoke the herbal material that is soaked or sprayed with any one of a number of chemicals. Similar products known as "bath salts" pose similar problems and have also been in the news.

The increased use of the dangerous substances also created problems in the Vernon County ∆Jail. Prisoners who use this are uncontrollable; they are paranoid; and they are violent, according to jail personnel. There is no known method of detoxing them once they enter the jail. The effects can last for days or weeks according to jail medical staff. There are social problems caused by the new drug, too.

Some states have passed laws banning the substances that are sprayed on the plant material that is smoked. Missouri is one of them, but the manufacturers keep a step ahead of the law by changing the chemical make-up of the material. Now the federal government is getting involved. The Drug Enforcement Agency recently added 26 chemicals found in samples of the bogus pot to its list of Schedule I substances. That puts the materials on the same level as heroin and cocaine as far as law enforcement agencies are concerned.

On July 9, President Obama signed national legislation banning the sale of the bath salts, synthetic marijuana and almost two dozen of the laboratory created ingredients of the deadly drugs. Maine senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins sponsored the Combating Dangerous Synthetic Stimulant Act, the first such legislation aimed directly at the synthetic problem.

Local law enforcement agencies may be able to make some progress in the future, but the law does not take effect until October. Peckman has been trying to get the local establishments that sell the products to take them off the shelf, but there is just too much money to be made and he has had little success. Peckman is anxious for the new law to come into play. He said that once it does, his office will see to it that neither product is available for sale in Vernon County.