CHARLESTON, W.Va. — People who possess or sell “bath salts” and K2 in South Charleston can now face 30 days in jail and up to a $500 fine.
City Council unanimously passed two ordinances at a regular meeting Thursday night making the synthetic drugs illegal.
“I just want to thank you all for that,” Mayor Frank Mullens said after the ordinances were passed. “These are two items out there in our society that are killing people.”
Products that mimic the effects of marijuana and have potentially dangerous side effects are being sold via popular online shopping web sites like Amazon.com, and at suburban malls, convenience stores and gas stations.
High school students and members of the military use “legal marijuana” or “herbal incense,” marketed as K2, Spice and Potpourri, to get high because the products are legal, easily available and do not show up on drug tests.
MORGANTON —
Narcotics officers scoured the county for a slew of recently criminalized drugs, finding a cache of the illicit substances in an unnamed store.
The newly-banned chemicals are sold under innocuous-sounding names — bath salts and K2 — with brand names that are equally unalarming, such as White Rhino, Mr. Nice Guy and Super Kush. They even brand themselves as incense with warning labels advising customers they are not for human consumption.