Designer Drug Laws backfire

This past year many states imposed "bans" on compounds that were found in aromatic potpourri and incense products. The result is thousands of new compounds that cannot be detected by law enforcement.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lafayette, Louisiana, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 3, 2012 --At least sixteen states imposed bans of one nature or another on so called synthetic cannabinoids. These ambiguous laws come in a wide variety of forms and typically list specifically banned compounds or refer to the DEA's Emergency Action on March 1, 2011 that banned five of these compounds. The DEA has about 50 chemists working to keep up with this issue, they are up against an army of thousands.

The immediate result to these bans was predictable. Dan Francis, President of the Retail Compliance Association stated on ABC News Show 20/20 back in June of 2011 that "Bans are very dangerous because they unleash a whole new set of unknown compounds". Which is exactly what has happened.

"New compounds are being developed by thousands of chemists worldwide wishing to capitalize on this rapidly growing industry." states Francis. "These new compounds are untested on humans and in many cases on anything living, where many of the banned compounds were well known and used in a wide variety of studies, including human."

As retailers prepare for the passage of HR 1254, The Designer Drugs Act of 2011, which will ban 17 of these cannabinoid compounds, products are already being changed. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that there will be little or no impact on product availability due to these new laws, the Drug Enforcement Administration has stated many times publicly over the past year that there is no way to arrest or legislate this issue away."The products are here to stay, they must be regulated." Says Francis.

The laws themselves are unenforceable in many cases. In Virginia there were 9 raids and none resulted in any convictions, in Salt lake City, Utah they raided thirty-eight head shops and boutiques, no arrests. In Lafayette Louisiana, raids on a chain of stores did result in arrests, even though they were not found to have any specific banned compounds in their products, this has resulted in the State Law being challenged. The Federal Bill, HR 1254, looks very similar to the State of Louisiana Law, will it be void before it even passes?

The Federal Bill will likely be voted on in the Senate prior to March 1st, the day the DEA Emergency Ban expires unless extended.


The RCA promotes fair legislation for the adult retail industry.

More information can be found online at http://www.therca.org

20 20     curious goods     Dan Francis     DEA ban     HR 1254     k2     Retail Compliance Association     S.605     spice     Synthetic Cannabinoids