Prevention Council

Providing Substance Abuse Education, Information and Referral Services

Sale of synthetic marijuana banned in New York by state’s top doctor

March 29, 2012
By Emily Donohue
The Saratogian

ALBANY — New York state Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav R. Shah issued an order Thursday morning to ban the sale of synthetic marijuana.

Synthetic marijuana — sold in convenience stores and smoke shops under brand names like “Spice,” “K2” and “Galaxy Gold” — is plant material coated by chemicals that mimic the effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Synthetic marijuana has been linked to crimes locally and nationally and can cause dangerous side effects like increased heart rates, paranoia, agitation, nausea, renal failure and even death.

The commissioner’s order calls for the sale of synthetic marijuana to stop immediately. Local health department officials are tasked with enforcing the ordinance; violators can face civil penalties.

Saratoga County Director of Public Health Karen A. Levison was not available for comment Thursday.

Maureen Cary of the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention said her organization and the Prevention Council have gone into local stores asking shop owners to stop selling the product, or at least to store it out of view. Most stores have been receptive to those efforts.

Thursday’s ban, she said, “sends a good strong message.”

“I hope the local businesses that sell this product will understand that it isn’t in their best interest,” she said.

At Smoke and Save in Congress Plaza in Saratoga Springs, a manager said the product was removed from the store’s shelves Wednesday night.

Theresa Sheffer, the owner of Smoke & Fire on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, said she stopped selling synthetic marijuana several months ago because she didn’t like the product.

“We don’t know what’s in it, and it was apparent that it obviously wasn’t good,” she said.

Customers still come into her store daily looking for the product, and she uses those interactions as an opportunity to educate her clientele on the dangerous side effects of the synthetic drug.

“People don’t realize the risks,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senator says fake pot a threat to lives

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Courthouse Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. Joined by local law enforcement and Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, left, Schumer announced a push for legislation that would make synthetic pot illegal, and impossible for producers to slightly alter chemical compound to make it legal again. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Sen. Chuck Schumer, joined by region officials, urges a national ban
By Robert Gavin
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Albany Times Union

ALBANY — Three years ago, poison control centers across America reported only 13 calls from patients who had used synthetic marijuana. In 2010, those numbers jumped to more than 1,000. Last year, they exceeded 6,500.

Those alarming statistics were highlighted Thursday as U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer called for a nationwide ban on so-called “herbal blends” marketed as potpourri or incense, but which officials say is nothing more than fake pot.

And when smoked, doctors say, the products pose more dangers than illegal marijuana — including a greater risk of a heart attack.

“How is it possible that such a dangerous drug can be sold on shelves and convenience stores?” Schumer, D-New York, asked at a news conference. “Because our are laws are such that they don’t outlaw a drug that is almost exactly like marijuana except it has a few molecules rearranged, even though it has the same effects as marijuana. They call it a different name, they slightly change the chemical make-up and it’s legal — and that’s a real problem for us.”

Schumer noted, “This can be sold to 10-or-12-year-olds.”

Recent reports have shown the synthetic weed can lead to “dangerous, erratic and sometimes even deadly behavior,” Schumer said at an event inside the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse on Broadway.

Dr. Michael Dailey, an emergency physician at Albany Medical Center Hospital, said the synthetic products mimic the intoxicating effect of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, but have no useful purpose. Chemically, the products all seem to be “much more dangerous than THC,” he said.

He said the product can lead to extremely high blood pressure, profoundly fast heart rates, dangerous high temperatures and heart attacks.

“I personally have cared for patients that have been on these drugs,” he said, joined by Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy and law enforcement officials from around the region. “I’ve seen normally polite, appropriately interactive, delightful teenagers as well as young people, become frankly psychotic, violent and paranoid. These patients have required physical and chemical restraint.”

The fake pot — sold under names such as “K-2,” “Haze” and “Spice” — has remained legal in spite of federal laws, due to slight alterations made to its chemical make-up, Schumer said. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration administratively banned five chemical compounds found in fake pot.

Schumer supported a proposed federal law that would classify the products as Schedule I controlled substances akin to heroin and LSD. The bill has already passed the House of Representatives but not the Senate, where Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has opposed any ban and delayed its passing, Schumer said. He said he expects the bill — the David Mitchell Rozga Act, named for an 18-year-old Iowa youth who used such a drug and committed suicide — to pass the Senate shortly.

“It’s got to be stopped in its tracks,” Schumer said, adding, “When you have a new drug that’s brought into the area, or even brought into the country, the best thing to do is snuff it out quickly and hard. Otherwise it gains hold and it’s much harder to eradicate.”

In late June, the Times Union visited several area shops to gauge the prevalence of the product. One Center Square business displayed more than a dozen brands, including “Spike,” “Space,” “Super Kush,” “Green Kobra,” “Demon,” “Dojah” “Cloud 9.” “Sweet Lucy” sold for $24.99-a-gram, while small bags of “Willow Pillow” went for $10 a piece.

An $18 bag of Spike’s Silver variety stated it did not contain banned substances — and was not for human consumption or to be inhaled in any way. But the website for Spike displayed the words, “Live the High Life, High Life USA.” An Internet check revealed a website for “High Life USA” advertising itself as “The World’s Leading Online Smoke Shop.”

A bill to ban the substances passed the state Senate last year, but not the Assembly.

“If powdered cocaine was simply stamped powdered sugar, it wouldn’t be legal,” Schumer said. “Well, synthetic marijuana shouldn’t be legal just because it masquerades by another name and has slightly different chemicals.”

 

Schumer fighting for ban on synthetic marijuana

Posted: Nov 10, 2011 6:48 PM EST
By Christine O’Donnell
News Channel 10 – ABC

SARATOGA SPRINGS – There’s an herbal incense that experts say can be more harmful than some illegal drugs and several Saratoga Springs High School students have been caught using it.

The city of Saratoga Springs Prevention Council is making an effort to get rid of the “legal” synthetic marijuana after several students were hospitalized after smoking it.

“Anecdotally we know several youth in the county who  have been hospitalized and are staying in mental health facilities because of use,” The Prevention Council’s Director of Counseling services Patty Kilgore said.

Kilgore says the Prevention Council’s working on a two fold campaign to take the incense, that’s sometimes called potpourri out of city stores.

“It’s just plane dangerous, it’s putting  a lot of unknown chemicals into students bodies,” Kilgore said.

First, she says the Council’s asked local smoke shops to remove the product from their shelves. Secondly, they’re going to work towards changing the law to make the substance illegal.

“This is dangerous to our youth, there’s nothing okay with using synthetic drugs,” Kilgore said.

Smoke shop owner Theresa Sheffer says she stopped selling the product a year ago after she way how her customers started reacting to it; several of them showing up at her door before she opened for the day.

“It got to a point where it just wasn’t worth it, sure we were making money off it, but it’s not worth it to make money of the expense of our customer’s health,” Sheffer said.

Sheffer says the substance is dangerous because it’s not regulated.

“No body  really knows what it is; nobody knows what’s in any of the products that they’re buying there’s so many counterfeits, that are not taking care as to even what herbs that are used.”

Synthetic marijuana can fall under several names; Spice, K2, Thunder, Genie, Posh, Herbal Incense and can cause a number of side affects according to the Prevention Council.

Kilgore says some of the teens who tried it felt agitation, vomiting, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, anxiety, numbness and tingling, severe agitation, hallucinations and psychotic episodes.

Saratoga Springs pushes to get rid of synthetic marijuana

Posted: Nov 10, 2011 6:48 PM EST
By Christine O’Donnell
News Channel 10 – ABC

SARATOGA SPRINGS – There’s an herbal incense that experts say can be more harmful than some illegal drugs and several Saratoga Springs High School students have been caught using it.

The city of Saratoga Springs Prevention Council is making an effort to get rid of the “legal” synthetic marijuana after several students were hospitalized after smoking it.

“Anecdotally we know several youth in the county who  have been hospitalized and are staying in mental health facilities because of use,” The Prevention Council’s Director of Counseling services Patty Kilgore said.

Kilgore says the Prevention Council’s working on a two fold campaign to take the incense, that’s sometimes called potpourri out of city stores.

“It’s just plane dangerous, it’s putting  a lot of unknown chemicals into students bodies,” Kilgore said.

First, she says the Council’s asked local smoke shops to remove the product from their shelves. Secondly, they’re going to work towards changing the law to make the substance illegal.

“This is dangerous to our youth, there’s nothing okay with using synthetic drugs,” Kilgore said.

Smoke shop owner Theresa Sheffer says she stopped selling the product a year ago after she way how her customers started reacting to it; several of them showing up at her door before she opened for the day.

“It got to a point where it just wasn’t worth it, sure we were making money off it, but it’s not worth it to make money of the expense of our customer’s health,” Sheffer said.

Sheffer says the substance is dangerous because it’s not regulated.

“No body  really knows what it is; nobody knows what’s in any of the products that they’re buying there’s so many counterfeits, that are not taking care as to even what herbs that are used.”

Synthetic marijuana can fall under several names; Spice, K2, Thunder, Genie, Posh, Herbal Incense and can cause a number of side affects according to the Prevention Council.

Kilgore says some of the teens who tried it felt agitation, vomiting, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, anxiety, numbness and tingling, severe agitation, hallucinations and psychotic episodes.

Synthetic marijuana use on the rise

November 9, 2011
By SUZANNA LOURIE
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Officials say a dangerous national trend is catching on in and around Saratoga County: synthetic marijuana. It’s perfectly legal, but its dangers are very real.

About three weeks ago, Saratoga Springs High School Resource Officer Lloyd Davis caught several students skipping school. He brought the students back to school and while searching one student Davis discovered the student had a small green package of “herbal incense” called Supernova.

It was herbal incense, Davis discovered, a synthetic mixture of plant materials and unregulated chemical compounds that mimic the effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

“That’s when it first came to my attention,” Davis said at a Saratoga Partnership for Prevention meeting Wednesday. “We asked — what is this? And he explained it’s something he gets high off and it’s completely legal and that he bought it at a shop in Saratoga.”

Marketed as herbal incense or herbal smoking blends, synthetic marijuana is called by a variety of street names including Wicked X, Posh, K2 and Thunder. These artificial marijuana products actually have 4 to 5 times the potency of marijuana, causing intense and dangerous side effects including hallucinations, anxiety, vomiting, heart failure and even death.

On Wednesday, Davis shared his concerns about synthetic marijuana with Partnership members including representatives from the Saratoga Springs High School, the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Four Winds Hospital.

“This is just like kids sucking chemicals into their body and possibly having hallucinations or seizures — there’s no gray area on this,” Maureen Cary, of the Prevention Council, said.

Smoking herbal incense can cause harmful health effects and erratic, even dangerous behavior, and those side-effects have been seen in communities across the Capital District recently.

Several weeks ago, a 15-year-old Whitehall girl was treated at Glens Falls Hospital after having an adverse reaction to smoking herbal incense. Police also say a man was high on synthetic marijuana when he beat a 7-week-old child, landing the infant in Albany Medical Center.

Police in Glens Falls, Queensbury and Fort Edward are investigating a series of burglaries and break-ins at stores that carry herbal incense.

In Saratoga Springs, one local shop owner chose to remove synthetic marijuana from her store altogether.

Theresa Sheffer, owner of Smoke & Fire, a tobacco accessories shop on Caroline Street, noticed strange addictive behavior in her herbal incense customers — just one of the reasons she stopped selling “fake weed” in October 2010.

“Every time I would show up for work there were people waiting for herbal incense and it made me feel uncomfortable — it was an addiction almost like crack or cocaine — they were obsessed,” Sheffer said. It was a costly decision. Packages of herbal incense don’t come cheap — 3-gram packages can sell for up to $25.

“We started learning about it and what they were finding in the products. We made a lot of money off it, but at what expense? Do we need to make money if it’s hurting our customers?” Sheffer said.

Some other local head shops still carry brands of herbal incense, though.

Before Wednesday’s Partnership for Prevention meeting, Cary visited several of these shops to find out where the product was being sold and discuss with the owners the possibility of not selling herbal incense if there were a community-wide agreement.

Synthetic marijuana is currently available in Saratoga Springs at the Getty station on Church Street and Smoke n’ Save in Congress Plaza. But, Cary says at least one shop owner seemed agreeable to pulling the product if other local stores do the same.

Though they don’t have a solid plan as to how they would approach local government, the Partnership agreed something needs to be done in the community to help make parents — and kids — aware of herbal incense and its dangers.

“This looks like a package of candy or gum. If I saw this on my son’s desk I wouldn’t think twice,” a concerned parent said at Wednesday’s meeting.

In addition to being legal — even for kids younger than 18 — herbal incense is fruity and sweet-smelling. It has been popular among people on probation because it does not show up in drug screening.