House approves synthetic drug crackdown amid concern about prison overcrowding

By Aaron Rupar Thu., Mar. 29 2012 at 11:48 AM

Bill sponsor Barrett: "More needs to be done because of the inherent complexity of synthetic drugs."

Yesterday, with a 120-11 vote, the Minnesota House approved another synthetic drug crackdown.

The bill criminalizes 250 more chemicals, slaps more severe penalties on those who sell synthetic pot, and streamlines the process by which the state Pharmacy Board can add new chemicals to the illegal list. A similar companion bill awaits floor action in the Senate.

Rep. Bob Barrett, R-Shafer, sponsored the bill. He said, "the goal of this legislation is to help stop this emerging problem before it becomes a larger health crisis."

Rukavina expressed concern about stiffer drug penalties putting more people behind bars.

Barrett said he believes imposing stiffer penalties on those who sell synthetic pot will finally motivate stores to remove illegal products from shelves.

"They feel that paying a small fine is a good business decision," he said. "We want to change this concept from a business decision to whether they want to spend five years in prison."

But Rep. Tom Rukavina, D-Virginia, said he's concerned that the "well intended" bill could put hundreds more people behind bars and place a financial burden on the state.

"You may be trying to do good things, but it's going to have a real negative impact," Rukavina said before voting against the legislation.

Related coverage:
-- For second straight year, synthetic drug crackdown advancing through legislature
-- Synthetic drug ban will go into effect Friday, judge orders
-- Head shops sue Minnesota over synthetic pot ban
-- K2 and the synthetic marijuana boom

Tags:

Bob Barrett, Minnesota House, synthetic marijuana, Tom Rukavina

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B_mac11

lol, what makes you think i wanted them to be used during the testing period. if jwh-018 was stil legal they could have done more indepth testing on the newer chemicals and the pluses and minuses of them. the random banning of abunch of synthetic cannaboids not nowing if they are good for us or not is stupid and rash. overdoeses are causes of more then just use. they are because people dont know how to safely dose on certain blends. thats where research and education comes in. like i said its no worse then liquer, treat a 3 gram bag like you would treat a liter of liquer. how would you approch a drink if you didnt know how much alcohol content was in it. lol

Sean

It sucks that herbal incense got caught up with other dangerous synthetic drugs like 2ce and bath salts. Incense are only as harmful as real marijuana and cigarettes. If the gov doesn't know the effects, they ban it i guess.

FellowHuman

BULLSHIT! This stuff is AWFUL! YOU are the one who doesn't know its effects!

X89woody

Why would you bring up grammar and then say puh-lease?? What experience do you have that gives you the right to be judge for everyone?

B_mac11

overdoeses are causes of more then just use. they are because eople dont know how to safely dose on certain blends. thats where research and education comes in. like i said its no worse then liquer, treat a 3 gram bag like you would treat a liter of liquer. how would you approch a drink if you didnt know how much alcohol content was in it. lol

FellowHuman

I think your spelling is ample proof that these substances are awful for your brain.

B_mac11

when done in moderation, somethnig that is not widely talked about, herbal incense is one of the most effective recriational drugs out there due to its high antagonistic effects. randomly banning chemicals is not the problem. researching them while still legal is the answer. selling them to legal adults and giving them the proper knowlage is the answer. overdoses are the result of misinformation.

FellowHuman

WHAT?!? You think that makes sense? Due to it's 'high antagonistic effects'? You know why what you just said is not widely talked about? It's some randomass shit you just made up to sound smart.

Researching chemicals for the first time while people all over the country smoke them is the answer? Puh-LEASE.

Overdoses aren't the result of misinformation, they are the result of USE.

Yessir

Herbal incense is worse than 2c-e you idiot.

B_mac11

no it isnt. your talking about effects that last one hour to something that lasts 12 hours. herbal incence is as harmful as alcohol imo

FellowHuman

The effects to your brain last MUCH longer than an hour, moron.

Yessir

Yes it is... Some of the compounds being sprayed onto herbal incense can act as full cannabinoid receptor agonists instead of being partial ones like THC. There has been several overdoses caused by various chemicals being labeled as herbal incense, compared to only one death ever linked to actual 2,5 dimethoxy 4 ethlyphenethylamine (and that was after taking a quite ridiculous amount too). Also 2c-e has had at least a decade of research behind it, compared to herbal incenses where new compounds are released all of the time just by making minor tweaks to existing molecules, most of these just come and go, just as the laws do that define certain compounds as analogues or isomers of one another, this cycle prevents research being done effeciently.

Joe

Wouldn't have to worry about it if they'd just let people grow the natural stuff in their window boxes. Stop the privatization of our prisons and the lobbyists against legalization with evaporate.