New Law a Burn for Synthetic Pot

A day after local narcotics at a Cartersville store, Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday signed legislation outlawing all forms of the product, which has been sold at gas stations across the state.

Following 2010 legislation meant to ban the substance, manufacturers of fake pot—or similar products marketed as incense—changed the chemicals they spray on dried vegetation, exploiting a loophole in the earlier law, WSB-TV reports.

While most versions of "spice" sold in Georgia were legal until yesterday, that allegedly was not the case on Cassville Road.

Local drug task force agents secured a search warrant for following forensic testing they say confirmed a package of "Manic Organic" from the store contained a Schedule I controlled substance, reports. State legislators two years ago classified five chemicals used to make synthetic pot in that most restrictive category, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says includes substances with no medical use that are unsafe and highly abused.

Other products confiscated during the raid near Atco were labeled "Scooby Snacks," "Mad Hatter" and "Sexy," officials told WSB-TV. In addition to fake pot worth $15,000, agents seized $20,000 in cash, the alleged proceeds from sales of the illegal products.

Authorities could set their sites on other Cartersville stores suspected of selling packages containing chemical compounds that mimic the effects of marijuana, but Bartow County-Cartersville Drug Task Force head Capt. Mark Mayton said he hopes BP sends a message to businesses and consumers.

Nearly 7,000 calls to poison control centers across the country in 2011 were related to the adverse effects of smoking spice or K2, which was more than two times the number of those calls in 2010, the governor's press release says. Doctors say fake pot also can cause psychosis and increase a propensity for violence.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan and lawmen across the state had requested Deal's quick signing of SB 370 so the crackdown on synthetic marijuana could begin.

"Get it off the shelves or you're going to jail. We intend to aggressively enforce this," Keenan said, according to WSB-TV.

SB 370 was named Chase’s Law in memory of Chase Corbitt Burnett, a 16-year-old honor student and soccer player found dead in a hot tub at his parent’s Fayette County home after smoking synthetic marijuana.

Burnett’s family attended the bill signing.