City bans synthetic marihuana

do Iplextra

Sep 08, 2010 (Kilgore News Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

A new and nasty little boutique drug showing up at convenience stores has area cities scrambling to outlaw it.

Kilgore's city council followed the example of Longview, Tyler and others Tuesday night by banning an herb-looking plant matter often billed as "incense" but widely nicknamed "synthetic pot."

Kilgore Police Department's public information officer, Lt. Roman Roberson, said the product presents "serious public safety and health risks ... it has nasty side effects."

Those side effects can range from nausea to hallucinations and agitation. A Longview motorist under the influence of the product recently ran through a plate glass window, Roberson said.

The substance looks like a dry green plant material, generally an herb-looking plant with the Latin name salvia divinorum salvinorin A.

Typically packaged in cellophane and often labeled "incense." Names it has been marketed under include K2, K2 Summit, K2 Sex, KO Knockout 2, Fire-n-Ice, Yucatan Fire, Spice, Spice Gold and Spice Diamond.

"They've taken a plant and a combination of chemicals so when you smoke it, it has the same effect as marihuana but with some nasty side effects on top of that," Roberson said.

"Word gets around and people learn that you can smoke it and it's a synthetic marihuana," he said. "We don't know what the health risk is -- and a 12-year-old kid could walk into a store and buy this stuff.

"It's definitely a concern -- we need to take some action until the state can make it illegal," he said.

Roberson said the Texas state legislature is expected to take up the idea of banning the substance in the coming session, but that in the meantime, many cities are passing ordinances against it as a stop-gap measure.

"We've heard there were some convenience stores that were selling it in town -- the information we received was that it was a behind-the-counter deal," Roberson said.

Kilgore's new Ordinance 1470 adds synthetic pot to the list of "certain illegal smoking products and ingestion devices" prohibited within city limits. It expands the definition of "illegal smoking product" to include "any substance, whether described as tobacco, herbs, incense, spice or any blend thereof, regardless of whether the substance is marketed for the purpose of being smoked, which includes" a laundry list of chemicals, starting with the products of the salvia plant.

The ordinance makes it illegal to sell, offer to sell, deliver or give the product to anyone, or to have it in your possession or to use it.

Fines can range up to $2,000 per offense.

The police department will be checking local tobacco shops and convenience stores in town to make sure they're aware of the ordinance, he said.