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The owner of a Duluth head shop says a new
federal ban on the sale of five chemicals used to make synthetic
marijuana won't make much difference - he'll just stock brands that
use other, still-legal substances.


      Jim Carlson, owner of the Last Place on Earth, said he will
still stock top-selling brands of fake pot, which contain organic
leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high
when smoked.


      "We're just going to pull in the ones with different compounds
- and they are readily available," Carlson told the Duluth News
Tribune.


      Synthetic marijuana has been sold in drug paraphernalia shops
and on the Internet under various brands including Spice, K2, Blaze
and Red X Dawn. The Drug Enforcement Agency's ban, imposed Tuesday,
affects only five chemicals used in the products.


      Carlson said that with about 210 similar chemicals available,
the manufacturers will try to keep one step ahead of the government


      "Unfortunately he is correct," said Barbara Carreno, a DEA
spokeswoman in Washington, who confirmed Tuesday that many
suppliers are offering retailers products with new chemicals.
"There are many of these substances and we chose five common ones
because we don't have the resources to study all of them."


      Federal drug officials announced plans for the emergency measure
in November amid increasing reports of bad reactions including
seizures, hallucinations and dependency. The ban is scheduled to
remain in place for at least one year while researchers study the
five chemicals.


      Neither the banned chemicals nor the other ones that might take
their place in synthetic marijuana products have been tested in
humans, Carreno said, so nothing definitive is known about their
short- or long-term effects on people. She said it's dangerous for
people to ingest these substances when they don't know what the
physical or psychological effects will be.


      Synthetic marijuana is a "highly profitable business," Carreno
said, but most of the chemicals come from overseas, and many
retailers have no idea what the active ingredients in the products
are, and they may buy from dishonest suppliers. So that makes it
even harder for consumers to evaluate what they're smoking, she
said.


      The Last Place on Earth is one of four Minnesota head shops that
have sued to block the ban. A federal judge threw out their lawsuit
in January, saying it was premature because the DEA had not yet
acted.


      But their attorney, Marc Kurzman, told the St. Paul Pioneer
Press he filed papers in U.S. District Court and with the 8th
Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday seeking again to block the ban.
He contends the DEA has no authority to ban the chemicals and that
its claims about their effects are false. Now that the DEA has
imposed the ban, Kurzman said he believes the courts will rule in
his clients' favor.


      The other stores in the lawsuit are the Hideaway in Minneapolis,
Down in the Valley in Golden Valley and Discontent in Moorhead.


      "We just think they're overstepping their boundaries and
treading on the Constitution," Carlson said. "We plan to take it
to the Supreme Court."


      And Carlson said he doesn't think his sales of fake pot will be
stymied.


      "Let's say I had a liquor store, and you like gin . and they
say you can't have gin anymore," he said. "Well, you're probably
going to keep coming back, but now you'll buy vodka."
      

Gallery

Minn. House OKs crackdown on synthetic marijuana

The owner of a Duluth head shop says a new
federal ban on five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana
won't make much difference - he'll just stock brands that use
other, still-legal substances.

Minn. head shop owner says fake pot ban won't work

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