SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA TARGETED IN GREEN BAY

5 Shops Found Selling Products Made With Banned Chemicals

Authorities seized $160,000 worth of apparent synthetic marijuana from
a store following an investigation launched when two Green Bay East
High School freshmen who smoked some of it were rushed to the hospital
last month.

Police seized the suspected fake pot, also known as K2, on April 15
from Northern Lights Smoke Shop, 322 N. Baird St., Green Bay,
according to a search warrant filed in Brown County Circuit Court. The
store, located about three blocks from the high school, has since
closed. The owner, Christopher Andrews, declined comment.

The search warrant says police are investigating four other stores
suspected of selling K2. Six chemicals commonly found in the drug have
been banned by city ordinance as of December.

The two students were hospitalized April 12 after allegedly smoking a
product called Dave's Not Here just before school began, police said.
One of the boys began to convulse, and the other was found unconscious
outside on school property. Both were treated at St. Vincent Hospital
and released.

According to the search warrant, a lab was set up in the basement of
the shop, where several plants were drying in tin roasting pans. Each
tin was labeled with the ingredients used for making the product.
Officers also reported a digital scale with green plant material on
it.

Products seized from all five shops were sent to the State Crime Lab
in Wausau, where they were identified as synthetic marijuana. However,
the products did not include any chemicals banned by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration or the city ordinance. The broader city
ordinance also bans drugs that produce the same effect as marijuana.

Authorities plan to test the seized products to see if they produce
the same effect as marijuana, said Green Bay police Lt. Bill Bongle,
who declined to say how police would do that.

"There are so many varieties, and some of them deviate by maybe a
couple molecules, chemically, so the people that produce this stuff
are constantly trying to change the formula to stay ahead of the law,"
he said.

Dissecting the drug

Synthetic marijuana is made by spraying a chemical on legal dried
herbs or plants.

"What people don't know when they smoke this stuff is what chemicals
it contains," Bongle said.

The product often smells like potpourri, not pot, and looks similar to
oregano seasoning, he said.

"They're telling people that it's incense and not for human
consumption. Yet it's packaged and sold with items used to smoke."

Shops that carry it usually have signs prohibiting anyone younger than
18 from entering the store, and the product often is stored under the
counter. Synthetic marijuana locally can cost up to $40 a gram, just
$10 a gram cheaper than high-grade marijuana, Bongle said.

"Nobody goes in a store to pay $40 for 1 gram of incense when there's
some incense in the same store that's only 6 bucks. Clearly, there's
something going on here."

Green Bay investigators are awaiting state Crime Lab results of tests
on other products seized from the stores this month.

The DEA announced in March the ban of five common chemicals found in
synthetic marijuana for at least a year while authorities investigate
their effects. The chemicals could be banned permanently.

At least 16 states have acted to ban one or more common chemicals used
to make synthetic marijuana, which is often sold as incense or
potpourri, according to the DEA. A bill moving through the Wisconsin
Legislature seeks to outlaw several chemicals found in synthetic
marijuana. A second offense for possession would be a felony with a
fine up to $10,000 and up to 3= years in prison.

The sale or possession of synthetic marijuana is banned in
Ashwaubenon, Bellevue, Howard, Suamico and Wrightstown.

Safety concerns

Green Bay police began seeing more use of synthetic marijuana last
fall because it was legal, Bongle said.

Users favor the synthetic product because it doesn't show up in drug
tests, said Jocko Zifferblatt, emergency physician at St. Vincent and
St. Mary's hospitals.

Zifferblatt said he has treated several young people in the past two
months for psychotic delusions and high heart rates brought on by
smoking synthetic marijuana.

"It's not the same as marijuana," he said. "It's clearly much more
addictive. It lasts longer in your system. And it's
unpredictable."

No studies exist to show how the chemicals affect people, he
said.

To stay a step ahead of the law, manufacturers often change the
chemicals, which means smokers don't know what they are taking.

"You may have a fine trip the first time. You may have a terrible trip
the next time," Zifferblatt said.

Green Bay East High School Principal Ed Dorff said the school
district's drug policy calls for discipline up to expulsion for
violators. He said that policy was followed for the two freshmen
hospitalized last month, but he declined to say how.

A letter was sent to middle and high school parents alerting them of
that incident, said Barbara Dorff, executive director of learning and
student services for the Green Bay School District.

"We really would like parents to be aware of it and be looking for
it," she said of synthetic marijuana. "It's very expensive, so if your
children are bringing home potpourri that costs $15 in a very tiny
package, that would be very suspicious."