Pubdate: Tue, 26 Oct 2010
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Copyright: 2010 St. Paul Pioneer Press
Contact:  http://www.twincities.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/379
Author: David Hanners

DULUTH'S BAN OF SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA ON HOLD UNTIL JUDGMENT IN LAWSUIT

The city of Duluth, Minn., said Tuesday that its ban on fake pot is 
constitutional, but it has agreed not to enforce it until a court 
decides the issue.

In a three-page response to a lawsuit filed this month, a deputy city 
attorney disputed claims made by the owner of a Duluth head shop who 
said the new law is so broad that it not only outlaws synthetic 
marijuana but also such over-the-counter remedies as Vicks VapoRub.

The city also denied the shop owner's claims that there was no 
scientific evidence that synthetic marijuana has any psychotropic 
effect and that it poses no health or safety threat.

On Aug. 30, Duluth became the first city in Minnesota to outlaw 
"synthetic cannabinoids," which are otherwise-legal compounds 
discovered by a chemistry professor in 1995. The compounds have since 
been turned into incense, and some users believe the compounds mimic 
the effects of marijuana.

Four days after Duluth's city council passed the ordinance, James 
Carlson, owner of Last Place on Earth, a novelty shop, sued the city 
in U.S. District Court. He said the products -- sold under such names 
as Mojo, Yucatan Fire, Skunk and Pandora Potpourri -- made up more 
than half of his sales.

He also argued that the law was written so broadly that it outlaws 
several commercially available cold remedies.

The law carries a fine of up to $1,000 a day for any person selling 
the products, and Carlson asked a judge for an injunction and a 
temporary restraining order barring the city from enforcing the law.

On Oct. 7, the city agreed to refrain from enforcing the law until a 
judge rules on the suit.

Deputy City Attorney M. Alison Lutterman, who filed the city's legal 
response, would not take calls from a reporter, according to a 
receptionist at the city attorney's office. Duluth City Attorney 
Gunnar Johnson did not return calls for comment; the receptionist 
said he was out of the office until Thursday.

When he filed the lawsuit on Carlson's behalf, Golden Valley attorney 
Randall D.B. Tigue said the ordinance was based on "hysteria" and was 
"drafted without the slightest clue as to what the scientific 
evidence is about what does or doesn't create a public health hazard."

He said it was the responsibility of the state and federal 
governments to determine what constitutes a "controlled substance," 
and that a municipality had no business assuming that role.

When it passed the ordinance, the city council included a "statement 
of purpose" claiming preliminary studies have shown that three 
synthetic cannabinoids "are between three and 100 times more potent 
than THC, the active ingredient in marijuana."

Because of that potency, the products represent "a health, safety and 
general welfare concern for the citizens of Duluth," the statement said.

But Carlson, whose store has been a fixture in downtown Duluth for 29 
years, said the concerns were overblown and the law's prohibition of 
hemp products was so vague, it would ban display of the original 
Declaration of Independence in Duluth "because it's on hemp paper."

Carlson sells the incense for $10 to $25 per gram, depending on the 
potency. He contends that many of his customers use it to treat 
medical conditions or chronic pain because medical marijuana isn't 
legal in Minnesota.

On the same day Carlson filed his suit, the city council in 
Hermantown, 10 miles west of Duluth, passed a similar ordinance. A 
month earlier, Hermantown City Attorney Steve Overom told the council 
that the League of Minnesota Cities was not taking a position on the 
proposed ordinances, according to minutes of the Sept. 8 meeting.

Carlson filed an amended complaint Oct. 11, adding Pure Pleasure, a 
store in Hermantown, as a plaintiff.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart