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Marshall MurphyAssistant Photo Editor

Tere is a new breed o drugs on themarket. It is a kind o drug you can buy in

daylight, at local corner stores or online.Outbreaks o this drug are wreaking havocon users, causing cardiac arrest, nightmarishtrips and thoughts o suicide and violence.Caliornia politicians and law enorcementare teaming up to take down these kindso drugs in the state. Tey are syntheticdrugs known on the street as spice andbath salts

Chula Vista Council member SteveCastaneda has been working or more thantwo months with Council member PatriciaAguilar and the Sweetwater Union SchoolDistrict to ban sales and possession ospice and bath salts in Chula Vista. TeOrdinace to ban possession will go beoreChula Vista Public Saety SubcommitteeOctober 12, 2011 beore it can go ontothe ull council.

Assemblyman Ben Hueso representativeo the 79th District introduced AssemblyBill 486. he Bill tackles bath salts,a synthetic cathinone stimulant thatproduces a high similar to cocaine,composed o Mephedrone andmethylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).While Senator Ed Hernadezs Senate Bill

420 takes aim at synthetic cannabinoidpotpourri sold as spice which replicatesa high similar to marijuana, both billswould make it a misdemeanor to sellthe substances, punishable up to $1,000in ines or six months in jail. Grosslymislabeled, the substances are sold underthe guise o incense and bath salts. Bothare labeled not or human consumption.

Ely McLaughlin, a 20-year-old videoproduction student at San Diego CityCollege, started using spice and bath saltsater being sentenced to ederal parole. Athis highest point he was smoking more than

300 grams o spice a month. Sold in pocket-sized canisters, spice resembles marijuanas

herb-like appearance. Standard sizeshold two grams but can be sold at largerquantities. McLaughlin said he has smokedbrands o spice such as,Armageddon, K2,

X-rated, K2 Chronic.But there are negative side eects.I eel dumber a bit, a little slow, said

McLaughlin. Sometimes I have heatfashes and my heart hurts every now andagain.

Spice and bath salts have developed amythical air to them with tales o peopleexperiencing extreme psychosis, terriyinghallucinations and sel-mutilation.

Dustin Bellis, age 23, a beveragemanagement major at University Nevada,Las Vegas smoked spice or two years,taking two month breaks every six months.He smoked brands such as Fat Cat Spiceand Pulse. In a three day period o timehe and his roommate would smoke 10grams. He smoked enough to build up atolerance, sometimes smoking enough toresult in hallucinations. During his timeso quitting he would experience withdrawalsymptoms.

Te withdrawal symptoms vary romperson to person but my side eects wereheadaches, intense heat fashes, extrememorning sickness, loss o appetite, extrememood swings and weight loss, said Bellis.

Te worst o the side eects or me wasthrowing up oam. When I stopped everymorning or about two weeks I wouldthrow up oam, which was painul anddisgusting

Synthetic drugs have been hiding in plainview. Only recently have politicians, parentsand school administrations in Chula Vistarealized the extent and danger o thisdrug ater the heavily covered case o theOlympian High School student who wentinto cardiac arrest on graduation day atersmoking spice.

Six months ago i you were to mention

spice or K2 I wouldnt know what you weretalking about, said Castaneda. I thought

K2 were skis.Castaneda learned about syntheticsrom a segment on ABCs 20/20. Littledid he know they were being used in hisown town.

hese synthetic drugs seem to bemimicking eects o PCP we saw in the80s and 90s, said Castaneda. Weve hadpeople that have busted out o handcusand nd themselves non-susceptible to painand have spurts o super strength.

Part o the problem with spice and bathsalts is the constant evolving o the chemicaloundation.

Te laws have not been able to catch upwith this substance, said Castaneda Tey

constantly change the chemical makeup toskirt the law.Manager Joe at South Bay Liquor pulled

spice o his shelves or moral reasons.I dont want to have a mom come in

here and cuss me out because I sold her sonspice, said Joe as he rings up a customer athis amily-owned store. He stopped sellingthe pseudo incense ater Joe did a littlehomework.

Tey dont know what it is, said Joe.he irst time the Drug EnorcementAdministration (DEA) put the ban on therst substance was the rst and last time I

ever had it.In March 2011 the DEA temporarily

placed ive variations o spice into theControlled Substances Act as a Schedule 1substance, putting them in the companyo Ecstasy (MDMA) GHB, heroin andMarijuana. O the ve substances,JWH-018, CP-47, and cannabicyclohexanol were included. On September 7 asimilar temporary banning was placedon three o the active ingredients inbath salts, Mephedrone, Methylone andmethylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).

Stores do not card or traditional incenseand the same is true or synthetics and thisis adding to the controversy. Stores are

Chula Vista seeks ban on the sale of synthetic drugs

Marshall Murphy/staff

DECEIVING DRUGS Deadly synthetic drugs labeled as bath salts and potpourri are commonly smoked or snorted in

blunts and lines like other illegal narcotics and target marketed to youth.

Deadly compounds ofen available in localstores, sold to children near public schools

please seeDrugs pg. 16