Synthetic marijuana proving to be problem for drug agents

There’s a dangerous drug on the streets, and there’s nothing the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit can do about it.

Marijuana, lower left, looks similar to varieties of man-made, synthetic marijuana that currently are legal and causing problems.

It’s man-made marijuana, and it is blamed in several deaths statewide.

“What exists right now, whether you call it Spice, salvia, Texas Fire or any other street name, is man-made marijuana,” Rob Savage, commander of the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit, said.

“It’s much, much stronger and (more) potent than the marijuana we’re seeing right now,” he said. “And the marijuana we’re seeing now is 20 times stronger than what was out there two generations ago.”

The synthetic form of the drug is fairly new, manufactured in labs by chemists who originally tried to create what some view as the good effects of marijuana. Instead, it often has intensified side effects such as paranoia, sweats, a rise in blood pressure and nervousness.

The synthetic marijuana was among some of the substances seized in February by the DEU in a sweep of convenience and other stores across Etowah County. The synthetic cocaine, called bath salts, was made illegal, but only certain chemical elements of the synthetic marijuana were made illegal.

Chemists are making more changes to the chemical structure of the substance, for which no law exists making that particular substance illegal.

“Now the challenge is to address the base substance and all of its molecular makeup,” Savage said.

Savage said it is appearing on the shelves in commercial establishments, marketed as incense or potpourri for its aromatic properties. But its price should be a giveaway that it is much more.

 It sells for $20 to $30 for a small, 1.5-gram packet, said Woody Johnson, deputy commander of the DEU. The packets specifically say it is not meant for human consumption and that it is legal in all 50 states.

“We’re seeing it from the young to old,” Johnson said. “They’re selling it to teenagers. They’re making pure profit off our young people.”

It usually is placed alongside rolling papers on the shelves in plain view, Sgt. Phil Sims, an agent with the DEU, said.

“We get a lot of calls every day about it, but our hands are tied,” he said. “The people who sell it know it’s legal, and they’re out to make a dollar for as long as they can. They could smoke it in front of us and there is nothing we can do.”

Sims said the agents are not seeing as much of the bath salts after a state law was passed making them illegal.

“But there are still some out there,” he said.

Soon after problems with the bath salts were brought to the attention of State Health Officer Dr. Don Williams and Attorney General Luther Strange, they banned them, making it illegal to possess, manufacture or distribute them, Savage said.

Now efforts are under way for a similar ban on synthetic marijuana and the creation of a law that will make it possible to arrest those who have the substance.

Marijuana typically makes a user mellow. However, the man-made marijuana can cause psychosis and much more intensified effects.

“It causes more effects on the brain and can have long-lasting effects,” Sims said.

Those side effects are believed to have played a role in several suicides around the state.

Williamson is seeking a legal opinion that will clear the way for him to issue an emergency ruling that will make the man-made marijuana illegal, and legislation now is being prepared that will make it illegal.