HAUBSTADT MINI-MART AGREES TO HALT SALE OF K-2

HAUBSTADT - Police officers asked the owner of local convenience store
to discontinue sales of K-2, reported Lloyd Jones, town marshal.

Jones reported to town council members on Monday night that the owner
of the Sunrise Mini-Mart listened to concerns about K-2 and made the
decision to comply with the request.

Jones said that although police had only been aware of the product for
a few weeks, they believe it poses a possible danger as well as other
unknown health risks.

K-2 is said to mimic the effects of marijuana, but is sold as an
incense and has no tetrahydrocannabinal (THC) that would cause a user
to fail a drug test, said Jones. K-2 is not illegal either. Users
apparently smoke the "incense" in the same way they would marijuana.

Invented in 1995 and imported from China, the substance is banned in
Kansas, Great Britain, Germany, South Korea and France, according to
Ruth Hildebrand, Community Consultant for Indiana Criminal Justice
Institute.

Hildebrand reported that three grams of K-2, about the size of a
package of Sweet-n-Low, sells for about $25, and that when she bought
the product to make a presentation about it, the clerk also provided a
lighter with the purchase.

Gwen Siekman, coordinator for Tobacco Free Gibson County, said that
she thinks of incense is being sold in a stick form, and that it warns
on the package not to ingest the product.

Hildebrand said that her mission is to get the word into communities
and to parents because the product is easy to purchase.

The message did get into Haubstadt.

"Teens found out it makes them high," said Jones.

The problem, according to Jones, is that the potency of K-2 can be up
to 800 times the strength of marijuana, and can cause serious health
effects including rapid pulse, slurred speech, and elevated blood
pressure. He added that Poison Control reported 38 cases of
complications linked to K-2, including one case that may have resulted
in death.

Some cities, including Fort Wayne, have independently created
ordinances against the substance. Jones encouraged Haubstadt to follow
suit, although he said that he checked before the meeting and the
owner had already pulled the product off the shelves.

"He was really receptive," said Jones.

The council agreed that they did want to ban the product, but needed
more information before passing a city ordinance.

"Get a copy of what Fort Wayne did," council member Mike Ballard told
Jones.