DEA BAN ON FAKE POT INGREDIENTS PROMPTS MINNESOTA LAWSUIT

Head Shops Must Toss Some Items Out

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has outlawed the sale of
five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana.

The DEA filed a final notice Monday that chemicals used in some
so-called incense will be banned for sale for at least a year. The
ruling becomes official today.

Marc Kurzman, a Minneapolis attorney who represents four shops that
sell the products, said he filed petitions for court injunctions
Monday to stop the action.

He has argued that the DEA has no authority to ban the chemicals and
that its claims about their effects are false.

The idea that the "whim of one bureaucrat" can "immediately turn
people into felons, destroy tens of thousands of small businesses,
involving more than $100 million a year in commerce ... when the
science doesn't back them up -- they shouldn't be allowed to do it."

The fake marijuana, sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the
Internet, is marketed under various brands including Spice, K2,
Yucatan Fire and Red X Dawn. The products contain organic leaves
coated with chemicals that purportedly provide a marijuana-like high
when smoked.

Federal drug officials announced plans for the emergency measure in
November amid increasing reports of adverse reactions to the chemicals.

The four Minnesota head shops Kurzman represents had sued to stop the
DEA from declaring the products illegal.

But a U.S. district judge threw out the suit in January, saying it
was premature because the DEA had not yet acted.

The stores are the Hideaway in Minneapolis, Down in the Valley in
Golden Valley, Last Place on Earth in Duluth and Discontent in Moorhead.

Kurzman filed a petition for review Monday in the 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals and a new case in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.
He said he believed the courts would rule in his clients' favor.

In the meantime, his clients were getting rid of the products that
will be illegal as of today, he said.

This report includes information from the Associated Press.