It is the purpose and intent of this division to preserve and protect the public health,
safety and welfare of all city citizens and visitors. The distribution and use of
synthetic drugs currently marketed under names like "bath salt," "spice" or "potpourri"
has a substantial and detrimental impact on the public health, safety and welfare
of the city and it is therefore necessary to identify and control such synthetic products
that mimic currently illegal drugs. These new products are psychoactive chemical compounds
frequently labeled and marketed under the aforesaid names or some other seemingly
innocuous product name and usually include a disclaimer on the package such as "not
for human consumption." These substances have in fact been manufactured for human
consumption with synthetic chemical compounds that are intended to mimic the effects
of amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and other controlled substances under federal
and state laws. As distinguished from these standard everyday products containing
synthetic stimulants marketed as safe and legal alternatives to illegal drugs, but
are often more potent and dangerous than illegal drugs and are known to produce panic
attacks, dangerous hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, psychosis, suicidal thoughts,
high blood pressure, anxiety, increased heart rate, kidney failure, heart failure,
increased hostility, intense addiction, and numerous reported deaths. According to
the American Association of Poison Control Centers received more than 6,100 calls
about bath salt drugs in 2011, up from 300 for the year before, and more than 1,700
calls in the first half of 2012. Products containing these synthetic stimulants are
particularly attractive packages at convenience stores as well as with appealing product
names. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has previously exercised emergency
scheduling authority to ban some synthetic chemical compounds used in psychoactive
bath products and in 2012, the DEA extended its ban. New contraband synthetic drugs
are being created which are not controlled by federal or state law but which have
a potential for abuse similar to or greater than that for controlled substances. The
new substances, sometimes classified as "controlled substance analogs" under federal
and state law, can be designed to provide a desired pharmacological effect and to
evade controlling statutory provisions more rapidly than they can be identified and
controlled by action of federal agencies, Congress, state legislature, or the state
attorney general. The threat posed by these synthetic drugs is immediate and therefore
necessary to identify, control, and prohibit the synthetic drugs that mimic illegal
drugs.
