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Aldermen Attack Synthetic Marijuana, Move to Make Ban Easier to Enforce

By Ted Cox | July 23, 2014 5:10pm
 Spice is one of the brand-name forms of synthetic marijuana the city has banned.
Spice is one of the brand-name forms of synthetic marijuana the city has banned.
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U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

CITY HALL — Aldermen moved to close an enforcement loophole on synthetic marijuana Wednesday, advancing an ordinance that would make it a crime for a business to conceal it or possess it on the premises in any form.

Barbara Gressel, deputy commissioner with the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, said the new legislation sponsored by the mayor is an attempt to "clarify the existing ordinance and eliminate any ambiguity."

The city previously banned synthetic pot, typically sold under the brand names Spice and K2, in 2011, but according to Gressel inspectors ran into enforcement problems when businesses claimed they weren't selling it, but simply had it behind the counter. Police and investigators, she said, "had to actually witness a transaction" in order to enforce the existing ban.

 Ald. Matthew O'Shea called synthetic marijuana "pretty strange stuff."
Ald. Matthew O'Shea called synthetic marijuana "pretty strange stuff."
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

Gressel added that the new law "mirrors the unstamped-tobacco ordinance," on untaxed cigarettes, in that it prohibits possession as well as the sale at a business.

Ald. Matthew O'Shea (19th) cheered the measure, saying it was a problem in his ward and across the city.

"They're not on the shelves," he said. "It's behind the counter," sold to customers at head shops and other similar business who know to ask for it.

"It's pretty strange stuff," O'Shea said, adding that it's sometimes cooked up by "some bozo" amateur chemist and can have an unpredictable effect on those who smoke it. Some can get high, he said, some see no effect at all, and some go speeding off in a car straight into a streetlight. He and other aldermen said it had led to teen deaths, although they did not provide specifics.

The ordinance amendment cleared the License Committee without opposition and heads for approval before the full City Council next week.

Still, during the debate, some aldermen admitted to not knowing much about the substance.

"What is synthetic marijuana?" Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) wondered aloud.

Gressel listed a series of common ingredients found in the brand-name products.

"How much does synthetic marijuana cost?" Burnett added. "Is it cheaper than marijuana?"

"I have no idea," Gressel said.

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