Pubdate: Fri, 31 Aug 2012
Source: Verde Independent (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 Western News & Info, Inc
Contact: http://verdenews.com/Formlayout.asp?formcall=userform&form=1
Website: http://verdenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4433
Author: Scott Orr

POLK AIMS TO CRIMINALIZE 'BATH SALTS' VENDORS

Mother of Naked Lynx Lake Jeep Thief Testifies

CAMP VERDE - Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk is taking a unique - 
and unprecedented - angle in the fight to stop the synthetic drugs 
known as bath salts and spice: She wants stores that sell them 
declared a public nuisance.

The move is necessary because, as the Arizona Legislature makes the 
synthetic drugs illegal, the drug manufacturers simply change one 
compound in their product, which creates what's known as an "analog." 
Analogs have the same effects as the originals and are legal, because 
they are not the same chemical prohibited by state law.

Polk believes she's found a way to get around that limitation. On 
Thursday, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Michael Bluff held the 
first day of a two-day hearing on her request that he issue a 
preliminary injunction against stores selling synthetic cannabinoids, 
purported to simulate the effects on marijuana, and synthetic 
cathinones, which act like cocaine and other stimulants, because the 
vendors are a public nuisance.

Previously, more than 30 parties were involved in this civil action, 
but by Thursday all but three - Stephen Ogden, Scott "Wild Wes" Lance 
and The Island Store - had agreed to stipulate they would not 
continue to sell the products in return for Polk dropping the charges 
against them.

Just one appeared for Thursday's hearing: Lance, who is a candidate 
for Yavapai County Supervisor in District 2. Without an attorney, he 
was, by his own admission, in over his head.

As Polk methodically laid out her case, beginning with several DPS 
and Drug Enforcement Agency scientists explaining how synthetic drugs 
are made and how they're different from other drugs, Lance objected 
numerous times, once saying, "I need an attorney. I don't know what's 
going on here. I am running for a county office and this is a bash on 
me. I am not a college person. I object to everything."

Later, he said, "My constitutional right is that I have a lawyer. I 
don't have a lawyer. It's going to cost me many dollars to get one."

As this is a civil case, not a criminal trial, parties are not 
entitled to representation provided by the state.

Asked later why he didn't have an attorney, he said, "I'm trying, but 
$10,000 - I can't come up with that overnight. They've been bothering 
me for three weeks with all this."

When asked why he didn't simply sign the county attorney's 
stipulation, Lance said, "I don't sign anything that says I'm guilty 
if I'm not guilty."

He added that the civil case was affecting his campaign "very badly, 
on one hand. On the other hand, I have a whole new group of people 
coming to me that are appreciating me standing up here fighting.

"I feel like this is a witch hunt," he added.

As the court broke for lunch, Lance told Bluff that, "I asked for a 
continuance (to get a lawyer)."

"I granted you a continuance, Mr. Lance," Bluff said.

"Two weeks?" he replied bitterly.

Much of the testimony centered on the effects of these synthetic 
drugs, from users to the emergency workers and law enforcement that 
respond to treat them.

Tearful testimony came from the mother of Calvin Forrey, who died in 
June after what she claimed was a bath salt-fueled encounter with 
sheriff's deputies near Lynx Lake.

Catherine Forrey described her son as a "very loving, warm," 
27-year-old with a "gentle sense of humor," until he began to use bath salts.

After that, she said, his behavior became erratic. "He became 
isolated, locking himself away," she said. "He began hearing voices 
all the time. (He imagined) people were digging under the house, in 
the crawlspace, to get him."

She said she found bath salts and he admitted he'd been smoking them.

The situation escalated until, on June 29, a deputy responded to a 
call at Lynx Lake about a naked man who'd stolen a Jeep and crashed it.

Deputy Michal Dannison, on the stand, recounted what happened.

"I drew my Taser and I yelled, "Hey, what's going on?" He jumped up 
and squared off against me.

He started throwing rocks and (tried) to hit me with a stick."

Dannison fired the Taser, but "as soon as the Taser cycle ended - 
about five seconds - he was right back up again. Usually, if I tase 
somebody I can move right in and get him handcuffed right away."

He described a prolonged fight in which the Taser wires broke at the 
same time Calvin's dog attacked him. He drew his weapon and shot the 
dog twice, killing him, then reholstered his gun and went back after Calvin.

Help arrived and they got Calvin on the ground, at which point he 
stopped breathing. By the time his mother got to him at the hospital, 
his organs were failing. He died a short time later.

Catherine said the official cause of death hadn't been released, but 
given his admissions to her and what she had seen, she was certain 
that the bath salts had been the reason her son acted as he did and 
why he ultimately died.
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