LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- On July 1, the state will launch a crackdown to clear store shelves of a type of synthetic marijuana called K2. Governor Rick Snyder signed a law Tuesday that outlaws K2 and other designer drugs.
More from Michigan Public Radio’s Rick Pluta.
K2 is made of plants sprayed with a chemical to create a high that’s similar to marijuana--but with more dangerous side effects such as seizures and speeding heart rates. Because it’s still legal and not controlled, it can be purchased by children.
Several Michigan cities and counties have already banned K2. The new law signed by Governor Snyder not only outlaws K2, but any derivative drugs that might be created by tweaking the recipe.
“So this is something that we always wish could be ahead of," he says, "but this is one of those war-on-drug kind of questions that’s going to be kind of a challenge going ahead, but I think we’ve got better tools and weapons now.”
One of those tools is to give the state Department of Community Health director and the Board of Pharmacy emergency powers to outlaw new designer drugs as they emerge.
For the Michigan Public Radio Network, this is Rick Pluta at the state Capitol.
