April 10, 2012

LEGISLATORS PRAISE BAN OF SYNTHETIC DRUGS
New Regulations Would Ban The Selling And Purchase Of Drugs Like K-2

By Paul Petrone, Waterford Patch

Fayaz Khan owns 7-11 stores in Montville and New London, and has never sold synthetic drugs like K-2, a synthetic marijuana, or sage, a product that mirrors the effects of LSD.

“The margins are big on those products too,” said Khan, referring to the synthetic drugs that many other convenience stores did sell, without regulation. “But this is a family-owned business, and I know the consequences.”

Now, everybody will have to follow his lead. On Tuesday, in Khan’s Montville store, state legislators praised new regulations that would make it illegal to sell synthetic drugs like K-2, sage and bath salts.

“These were drugs that anybody at any age could buy,” State Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, who introduced legislation last year to ban the products. “I truly appreciate (Khan)’s feeling that this is not worth selling.”

The new regulations put synthetic drugs in the same category as marijuana or cocaine, and it will be illegal to sell or buy them, Stillman said. Connecticut is one of 39 states to pass laws that make these products illegal, she said.

The Product
K-2, sage and other synthetic drugs were being sold in brightly-colored packaging and were available to any person of any age. These synthetic drugs can produce a stronger high than the drugs they are replicating, and can be addictive, according to Michele Devine, the executive director of the Southeastern Regional Action Council.

The package says the drugs are “not for consumption,” but the packaging promotes ingestion, according to a release from Stillman’s office. After Devine told Stillman about the dangers of the drug, she brought it to the state legislature in 2011, which approved the ban of synthetic drugs unanimously, Stillman said.

Montville Mayor Ron McDaniel, Montville Resident State Trooper Troy Gelinas and State Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, were also at the press conference, and all praised the ban. Stillman also thanked state representatives Betsy Ritter, D-Waterford, Tom Reynolds, D-Montville, and State Sen. Edith Prague, D-Norwich, for helping the bill get passed.

“While the long term effects of these drugs are relatively unknown, what we do know is frightening,” Ryan said. “Limiting their availability, especially to young people is something I am really proud of.”

The final regulations have been written, and stores will now have to comply with the law, Stillman said. Selling these drugs is a felony, she said.

“If one of our purposes in state government is to protect the public health and well-being of individual residents – particularly young people – our state must carefully scrutinize comparable products and ban those with no discernable productive purpose,” Stillman said in a press release.