New products in works to replace banned bath salts, synthetic pot, salvia

When horror stories about bath salts and synthetic marijuana began circulating, lawmakers in Pennsylvania acted swiftly to ban the so-called fake drugs.

But manufacturers are even quicker.

Today is the first day that brands of bath salts, synthetic pot and salvia are illegal in this state.

By Wednesday, a yet-to-be-named product will be on the shelves of at least one local head shop, promising to have the same effects of synthetic marijuana.

“It’s incredible,” said George Geisler of the Pennsylvania DUI Association. “But they say that as fast as these products are outlawed they will come up with new ones, so it will never end.”

Geisler is in law enforcement now, but he has a background in food marketing and pharmaceuticals, too. He keeps up on research and already sees legal mind-altering drugs becoming popular in YouTube videos and Internet message boards.

Just to name two: Kratom is from a leaf found in East Asia, he said. Depending on how much is taken, it can be a stimulant or similar to a painkiller. Comatose Candy is a potpourri similar to K2 that’s advertised as “legal weed” online.

“The research says that the people who manufacture these … are expert marketers,” Geisler said. “Their packaging is phenomenal. Their marketing is phenomenal. … The law isn’t going to do it.”

That has some wondering whether this will continue as a cycle: more new drugs and more new laws.

Since Gov. Tom Corbett signed the ban into law last month, customers at Hemp’s Above in Mechanicsburg have been asking: “Are they coming out with anything else?”

Owner Brian Edmonson said about three-quarters of his sales came from synthetic pot while it was legal. Now he’ll sell a new mixture, but he said the stuff doesn’t have a name, and he’s not sure if he should call it incense, or potpourri — or something else.

“They’ve created a product that a lot of people want,” he said. “And not just punk kids — legitimate businessmen and adults that are responsible.”

Unlike the popular brands K2 and Spice, this won’t be a chemical sprayed onto plant product. Instead, it’s a mixture of natural herbs that comes with a certification that it doesn’t fall under the statewide ban.

Right before it was passed by the Legislature, the bill to ban the fake drugs was amended with help from a scientist who wanted to stop copycat products from skirting the new law.

“That’s what we were trying to avoid,” said State Rep. Rose Marie Swanger, R-North Lebanon Twp. “People are so creative. We’ll see what happens and we’ll have to do what we’ll have to do legislatively.”

Herbal incenses that promise legal highs have been around for a long time, and never had this sort of pushback. This time, it likely has something to do with a popularity among high school students and lots of media coverage of strange behavior.

Edmonson says he asks for identification from every customer, but most of his clients are over 30, and about half use synthetic marijuana for therapeutic reasons.

One regular customer is a man who has nervous twitches. When he’s standing, he shakes.

“He was taking alcohol for it because marijuana was illegal,” Edmondson said. “He said this stuff calmed his nerves; he can stand still. He said he was going to go back to booze.”

That man, and most of Edmonson’s other customers, were relieved to hear of some kind of alternative. Law enforcement, not so much.

“The most important thing for people to understand, it could be the same as having a chemical lobotomy of your brain,” Geisler said, because there is no research on long-term effects.

Being new is posing another obstacle: The forensic society might not be prepared for these drugs either.

“They can’t test it like they test coke and marijuana,” said midstate attorney Justin McShane, who says he specializes in forensic science.

When you’re caught with an illegal drug — in your possession or in your blood — police have to confirm that the substance is actually the outlawed chemical compound.

For drugs that are familiar, there is an answer key. McShane says that isn’t down to a science for these newly banned synthetic drugs. He thinks it will cause problems in the courts.

“Right now, there’s not a uniform process in place,” McShane said. “Chemists are having difficulty doing tests. The forensic science community is really struggling with the ability to tests these things.”

Edmonson says his suppliers tell him Pennsylvania’s law is one of strictest of the 30 states that had banned the fake drugs by midsummer. But some fear the laws can’t keep up.

Friday, a nationwide anti-drunk-driving campaign began, and in Pennsylvania the focus will be on drug-impaired driving because Geisler says it’s increasing much faster than alcohol DUIs.

The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration is spending $11 million across the country on the crackdown.

People still don’t understand that just because a substance is legal, behavior is not, Geisler said.

And it’s not just drunk driving.

Geisler says police are attributing more domestic violence-related and disorderly conduct crimes to fake drugs.

Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico was standing next to Corbett when he signed the legislation. Marsico called the last year an aberration of dangerous behavior and said he hopes the replacements don’t draw the same attention — that the fad will die.

“There’s going to be new drugs created,” he said. “But the synthetic marijuana and bath salts were just exceptionally bad and caused a lot of dangerous behavior.”

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/08/new_products_in_works_to_repla.html

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