Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2012
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2012 News-Journal Corporation
Contact:  http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Author: Frank Fernandez

SYNTHETIC POT, BATH SALTS ON WAY OUT IN PALM COAST

Palm Coast is forging ahead with an ordinance to prohibit the sale of
synthetic marijuana masquerading as herbal incense and is also taking
a bead on chemically tainted bath salts.

City Manager Jim Landon said that the city's research showed that
other communities had banned bath salts as well as synthetic
marijuana. Both products circumvent existing laws against illicit
drugs but contain hazardous chemicals.

"I have been told from our local law enforcement in our schools that
(bath salts) are not a problem here yet," Landon said in a phone
interview on Friday. "But because they are very similar in their
effects and there's nothing prohibiting them from being sold for these
inappropriate uses for young people, we chose to add that as a
proposal to address both items in one ordinance."

Palm Coast has been researching the issue since July and will discuss
a draft ordinance at its workshop beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday at city
offices, 160 Cypress Point Parkway. The public is not allowed to speak
during workshops.

During a recent workshop on Aug. 28, Mayor Jon Netts asked Flagler
County Sheriff School Resource Deputy Corporal Don Apperson just how
bad was the synthetic marijuana problem in Flagler County.

"It's epidemic proportion. It's terrible," Apperson said. "They are
getting away from the pills more. They are getting away from the
alcohol. They are getting away from regular marijuana. This stuff is
accessible in numerous places throughout the community and you don't
have to be a certain age to purchase it."

Apperson said deputies have had to call medical units to treat youth
because they smoked the synthetic marijuana, have had to contact
parents about their children, and have had to refer some students to
Stewart Marchman Act treatment center.

"I mean it's terrible," Apperson added. "I've seen kids that are just
completely out of it from smoking this stuff and it's terrible."

The city ordinance notes that synthetic marijuana and bath salts have
been known to cause a long list of dangerous effects, including
seizures, paranoia, anxiety, aggression and hallucinations.

The ordinance would ban the sale, display or distribution of
substances sold as "herbal incense" which can be easily smoked and
contain chemicals mimicking marijuana's effects. The ordinance would
also ban bath salts defined in part as any substance the retailer
should have reasonably known contains a synthetic stimulant regardless
of whether it has a label warning "not for human consumption."

The cellophane packages of brands such as "Barely Legal" herbal
incense are labeled "not for human consumption."

A violation would be punishable by a citation, but the City Council
has yet to set the amount of the citation, said Barbara Grossman, the
city's code enforcement manager, in an email on Friday.

City Attorney William Reischmann said in a phone interview on Friday
that the city could also go to court to get an injunction to force a
store to stop selling the products.

State law has failed to keep up with the ever changing chemical brews
unscrupulous chemists use to circumvent drug laws. That means the
sheriff's office cannot step in with criminal charges.

But a Palm Coast ban on the sale of synthetic marijuana and bath salts
would help, Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming said in a statement
emailed to the News-Journal by his spokeswoman.

"We are anxiously awaiting the city's ordinance," Fleming said. "It
will not affect our enforcement actions since the sale of these
products is not illegal. It will, however, at least provide a level of
enforcement through the city's Code Enforcement Division. I continue
to monitor state legislative action in hopes that some type of
regulation will be passed that makes the sale illegal. We continue to
investigate whether other enforcement routes are available also. Our
children are at risk with these products."

Netts said during the Aug. 28 workshop that he does not want to shift
the problem to another part of the county.

The city has provided copies of its proposed ordinance to Flagler
County and other cities in the county, so those governments could also
ban the substances.

"My goal is not to displace the problem out of Palm Coast and into
some community. My goal is to displace it out of Flagler County," Netts 
said.

City Councilman Frank Meeker said during the Aug. 28 workshop that he
wanted the city to move as quickly as possible on the ordinance even
if it meant enacting the ordinance ahead of other communities.

"Is everyone working as diligently as swiftly as it sounds like we
need to be working because if not I don't have a problem with forging
ahead and letting everybody catch up," Meeker said.
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