BILL WOULD CRIMINALIZE THE SALE OF FAKE POT IN FLORIDA

State representatives file bills to ban sales of the risky get-high
product.

Identical bills filed by two Jacksonville-area lawmakers would make
the sale of synthetic marijuana illegal in Florida.

The product is marketed as incense, and many packets are labeled as
not for human consumption, but its growing popularity as a way to get
high has caught the attention of lawmakers across the country. It's
banned in more than a dozen states.

"A friend of mine told me her daughter got into it," said state Sen.
Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville. "She said it felt like her heart was
going to jump out of her chest."

He and state Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach, have filed
identical bills in the House and Senate that would make the individual
ingredients that make up the product illegal.

Synthetic marijuana is sold in gas stations and smoke shops in
Jacksonville. When asked about the popularity of the product,
employees in those stores declined to comment.

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also
declined comment because the department doesn't discuss proposed
legislation.

In November, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration said it will
ban the five chemicals that make up synthetic marijuana by the end of
the year, allowing it to study the product's safety. The ban will last
one year.

To create synthetic marijuana, the five chemicals - designed to mimic
THC, the active ingredient in marijuana - are sprayed on herbs. The
chemicals were concocted by John Huffman, a Clemson University
researcher, to help study the relationship between the human brain and
drugs like THC. In several interviews, he has stressed that they
should not be used for human consumption.

Wise said he is aware of the looming federal ban, but says he still
wants to move forward at the state level.

"Just in case they take forever at the national level," he said, "we
just want to get it done here."

In November, the American Association of Poison Control Centers issued
a news release saying that synthetic marijuana had spurred more than
2,000 calls to poison centers across the country in 2010.

"These products present a health risk that is not worth it for
consumers," said Anthony J. Scalzo, the centers' medical director.
"The products are meant to create a similar reaction to marijuana, but
in fact, patients often report the opposite - a fast, racing
heartbeat, elevated blood pressure and nausea."

Wise and Adkins said they hope their bills would be signed into law
before the end of the state's legislative session in the spring.

"Several members already have reached out to be co-sponsors," Adkins
said, "and I think we will get good bipartisan support on this."