DEA: 31-state bust for bath salts, synthetic marijuana

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart announcing a nationwide bust for synthetic drugs, at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Va., Thursday, July 26, 2012

/ AP Photo/Cliff Owen

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - More than $36 million in cash was seized and 91 people in 31 states were arrested in a nationwide crackdown on "designer drugs" such as synthetic marijuana and bath salts.

Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration seized 4.9 million packets of synthetic marijuana, as well as material to make 13.6 million more packages, said DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. DEA and other law enforcement agencies also seized 167,000 packages of bath salts and materials to make an additional 392,000 packets.

Leonhart said the synthetic drugs are "marketed directly to teenagers." The drugs have become a popular alternative to traditional street drugs, but law enforcement and health professionals warned that the chemicals used to make them haven't been tested or approved for human consumption.

Agents raided smoke shops and other sellers of synthetic drugs that are linked to psychotic episodes and deaths of users. The synthetic marijuana is sold under brand names such as "K2" and "Spice."

The agency temporarily banned some of the chemicals found in synthetic marijuana, and President Barack Obama signed a measure this month that bans the sale, production and possession of many of the chemicals found in most popular synthetic drugs.

But experts who studied the drugs estimate that there are more than 100 different bath-salt chemicals circulating. Bath salts can mimic the effects of cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine.

Synthetic drug use has grown since the products were first introduced into the market a few years ago. Authorities say they are readily available for purchase in smoke shops and sometimes even corner gas stations, and at a relatively low price, and that's made them a popular alternative to street drugs.

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by malcolm-kyle July 27, 2012 4:43 PM EDT

"CIA are drug smugglers."—Federal Judge Bonner, while head of the DEA

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by Valhalla0907 July 27, 2012 5:56 PM EDT: Any poppy seed cake.


by josephp5 July 27, 2012 11:23 AM EDT: If only Obama would come down as hard on the people that ran the robo-signing scandal, the VA illegal loan fees scandal, the Citibank bet-against-your-own-products scandal, etc.

But when it comes to Wall Street fraud, Obama gets all pensive and sheepish and makes the excuse, "Well, the real problem is that most of what they did was not illegal!"

Well, that's a lie! Much of what Wall Street did was indeed illegal! But Obama will do nothing---he has done even less than Bush did! Even Bush, when the Enron scandal broke, had Ken Lay (his biggest individual contributor and CEO of his biggest corporate contributor) frog marched out of the building in handcuffs, as well he should have been.

But Obama will never go after hard targets. He prefers to target those dirty flippin' hippies and their synthetic weed (as well as their natural weed). It's especially hypocritical considering that Obama himself was a hipster growing up, and has admitted to his own illegal drug use. Had Obama been growing up when someone like Obama was President, then Obama would have probably never gotten into Harvard and eventually become President because he would have had too many petty marijuana busts on his record.

And also---I'll bet both he and Michelle still sneak cigarettes. I doubt that he really ever quit smoking.; Reply to this comment

by josephp5 July 27, 2012 9:58 AM EDT

How are the designer drugs being marketed to children? I have never seen them advertized, and they are sold behind the counter of liquor stores. Michele Leonhart, the DEA Administrator, is lying when she claims that these drugs are being marketed to children.

The DEA is just looking for relevance and attention. They organize a mass raid of the designer drug industry and then make a big press release of how they are protecting the children.

It's just like the FBI encouraging dumb people to participate in some plan to blow something up, providing them with fake bomb material and supplies. Then the FBI arrests them and announces that, thank goodness and the FBI, they have foiled another possible terrorist act!

When agencies like the DEA and FBI do this, they should be greeted with public revulsion and disgust. They are not preventing crime---they are only using their powers to make themselves look important, at the expense of weak foolish people that were not a threat.

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by DCradar202 July 27, 2012 2:46 PM EDT: Bravisimo.....hear ye hear ye....no chip no food

by josephp5 July 27, 2012 9:44 AM EDT

Can the President simply state that certain substances are now illegal? I thought that the Constitution said only Congress could make laws.

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by josephp5 July 27, 2012 10:46 AM EDT: Chuck: What the heck are you talking about? You accuse me of not knowing the issue because many of the substances are illegal, then you turn around and state that in this case the charges will probably be dropped because the substances were not illegal!

Besides, I'm sure I know the issue far better than you...both on the theoretical side and on the experience side!

For your information, only 5 substances have been outlawed: JWH-17, JWH-73, JWH-200, CP47,497, and Canabicyclohexanol. Many others, like JWH210, are legal. But since you know the issue so well, I guess you already knew that.

by legalizemaryjane July 26, 2012 11:39 PM EDT

legalize marijuana and you wont have this problem

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by josephp5 July 27, 2012 9:49 AM EDT: Of course that's the issue. Why is marijuana still illegal?

And another, more timely question: Why is Obama, the former Constitutional law professor and supposed socialist, an admitted former marijuana user himself, cracking down so hard on harmless drugs like these?

He really is a hypocritical jerk.


by TheRightChoice July 26, 2012 8:36 PM EDT: I just want to say thank you for making that bust.; Reply to this comment

by Orlandca July 26, 2012 6:24 PM EDT

Keep these drugs out of the Country, Anyone caught smuggling, die on the spot.

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by audemus July 26, 2012 8:04 PM EDT: What's your gun control policy ?


by josephp5 July 27, 2012 9:46 AM EDT: Dude, there is no smuggling. These drugs are legal! The issue is whether they should be legal or illegal, not that they are smuggled into the country. You epitomize the type of person that thinks they have all the simple answers ("die on the spot!") but don't actually even understand the problem.