oscar169
Farming 🌱
Supporter
- 2,729
- 263
- By Henry Erb
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Though synthetic marijuana knock-offs are legal and available at stores around the area and country, Shakedown Street has stopped selling them.
"Everyone loved" the products at first, employee Dan Wall told 24 Hour News 8. But they "found out real quick people just drop off. They turn into different people. It's kind of like crack."
The Kent County Health Department is making synthetic pot a public health issue because the legal system can't keep up with the problem.
"These are completely legal and kids are abusing them, kids and young adults are abusing them," the department's Lisa LaPlante said. "Kind of like they do marijuana, getting similar highs, but also getting very sick from them."
Vomiting, rapid heart rates, disorientation and convulsions are some of the effects the health department said results from the use of the synthetic marijuana products.
The synthetics are sold as potpourri in a variety of retail outlets. They're all marked "not for human consumption," but they're widely used to get high.
The Michigan state legislature banned some of the ingredients in the established and well-known products like Spice and K2. But underground chemists trumped the law by creating slightly different -- and legal -- formulas.
The health department said local law enforcement agencies are getting calls from schools and parents, and officials with the GRPD said they've seen 30 cases in the last month. But they couldn't prosecute because the products were modified to evade the law.
Shakedown Street's Wall said he tried synthetics once and didn't like it. He saw friends use it with bad effects.
"It's just not good for you," he said.
In January, Ionia County investigators estimated thieves stole $629 worth of "spice" or "incense blends" -- chemically altered drugs that sometimes have an effect like heroin. The Ionia County Sheriff's Department told 24 Hour News 8 robbing or breaking into businesses for the drug is a "dangerous trend."