Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jun 2010
Source: Daily Times, The (MD)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Times
Contact: http://www.delmarvanow.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.delmarvanow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/116
Author: Brian Shane

RESORT EYES SALVIA'S SEQUEL

OC Officials Call for Expanded Law

OCEAN CITY -- Police and government officials in Ocean  City are 
taking a hard look at a new substance being  sold in Boardwalk shops 
that they say, when smoked,  mimics the effects of marijuana.

Sold as incense or aromatherapy, the herbal substance  has been 
sprayed with chemicals meant to interact with  the brain just like 
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the  active ingredient in marijuana. In 
Ocean City, it's  available under brand names K2, Spice or Noella, 
among  others.

"It's synthetic marijuana, basically," said Police  Chief Bernadette 
DiPino. "I think we should eventually  ban it."

The topic came up in a meeting of the resort's police  commission. 
DiPino said such a substance should be  considered illegal because it 
falls into the category  of being an analog drug. Under federal law, 
any  substance meant to imitate something already classified  as a 
Schedule I drug is automatically illegal.

She also said it has been banned in 10 countries, and  the active 
components are Schedule I substances in  Kansas, Kentucky and 
Missouri. She recommended the town  write letters to the handful of 
retailers selling it  and ask them to stop based on its analog status.

On the Boardwalk, retailer Sunset Beachwear doesn't  have K2, but the 
clerk showed off two other products --  under the brand names of 
Jamaica Breeze and Noella  Herbal Incense -- that he described as 
being similar.

"It's the same as smoking the real" thing, said the  man, who did not 
give his name. He also said a  1.5-ounce packet of the herb sells for $45.

A few blocks south, between Wicomico and Somerset  streets, the store 
Beach Style sells several products  under the names Blueberry Herbal 
Hybrid Buds, Maui  Hybrid and Wild Greens. Also visibly on display 
was Purple Haze Spice and Goldeneye Spice, with a varying  "bliss 
factor" of 50X, 75X or 100X.

The website Legal buds.com ranked Blueberry Herbal as  its third-best 
"top legal bud," with a review telling  consumers that it's 
"extremely satisfying and of the  absolute highest quality; the smoke 
from this legal bud  is sure to impress any herbal smoker."

Also at Beach Style, there were hookahs, glass pipes,  lighters, 
rolling papers, grinders with  marijuana-themed packaging and 
marijuana-themed plastic  beads placed near the herbal incense display.

DiPino said a potential ban on K2 or other similar  substances could 
expand the illegality of such smoking  devices sold in Ocean City. By 
law, if a smoking device  is sold with the presumption that it's 
meant for an  illegal substance, then police can seize it and 
press  drug paraphernalia possession charges.

Last summer, the town banned another hallucinogenic  herb sold in the 
resort: salvia divinorum.

Salvia is illegal in several U.S. states, including  Virginia and 
Delaware, and is said to give users a  brief but intense out-of-body 
high after being smoked.  A bill banning it in Maryland this year 
made it through  the House but failed to pass the General Assembly.

Mayor Rick Meehan said Ocean City should expand its  salvia ban to 
include all hallucinogenic drugs.

"Every year as this is reinvented, the ordinance will  meet the 
test," he said. "Look, I'm sure it's the same  shops, or pretty much 
the same. I don't want to hear,  'nobody told us.' Certainly the 
intent was to make sure  we didn't have these types of substances 
being sold on  the Boardwalk. We did the right thing with salvia, 
and  I think we'd be doing the right thing here -- to make  the case 
that any drug of that nature is going to be  considered illegal and 
not allowed to be sold in Ocean  City."

At the K2 website, the manufacturer insists that it  sells incense 
unfit for human consumption.

"K2 Incense is not meant to be consumed, just like  White Out is not 
intended to be huffed," it says under  a category for media requests. 
"K2 is not a chemical,  it's a brand name protected by international 
laws. K2  is not banned anywhere in the world. Certain  ingredients, 
which supposedly are contained in the mix  have been banned in 
several countries. So get your  story straight!"
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom