CITY HALL — The City Council closed an enforcement loophole on synthetic marijuana Wednesday, making it a crime for a business to possess it or conceal it on site.
The full council approved a move previously advanced by the License Committee in an attempt to make it easier to prosecute violations.
City officials had argued that investigators and police officers had to actually witness a business selling synthetic marijiuana in order to press a case, because otherwise businesses successfully argued that they simply had it behind the counter and it wasn't for sale.
Ald. Matthew O'Shea (19th) has said it is a citywide problem, and that head shops and similar stores typically kept it behind the counter for customers who know to ask for it.
Sold under brand names like Spice and K2, synthetic marijuana attempts to mimic the effects of the real thing, but health officials says it poses many of the same risks and dangers.
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