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North Dakota pharmacy board bans stardust, synthetic marijuana
Jenny.Michael@bismarcktribune.com | Posted: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:30 pm
The North Dakota Board of Pharmacy has decided several previously legal substances should be illegal to possess or sell.
The rule will go into effect once the Legislative Council receives it, which could happen as soon as today.
In an emergency meeting at 9 p.m. Thursday, the board placed several “cannabinoids,” which are substances that are chemically similar to THC, and “mephedrone,” a stimulant that can cause hallucinogenic effects, under Schedule I by emergency rule. The board must hold a public hearing within 60 days where people can comment on the rule before it becomes permanent. The meeting tentatively has been scheduled for April 23 in Minot.
The board already had an emergency meeting scheduled to consider remodeling plans for several pharmacies. After conferring with Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and reading news reports of several legal substances that produce highs similar to illicit drugs, the board added consideration of an emergency rule on the substances to its agenda, said Howard Anderson, executive director of the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy.
The pharmacy board voted unanimously to place the substances on Schedule I during the meeting, which included lively discussion on the issue among Stenehjem, Anderson and William Nickel, co-owner of Big Willies in Mandan.
The Bismarck Tribune and other local media outlets on Wednesday reported on police knowledge of several substances that were being sold at local businesses that produce highs similar to known illicit drugs. Anderson said the emergency rule had been under consideration prior to the media reports on the products after law enforcement officers and operators of transitional correctional facilities brought it to their attention.
Several people consumed or injected themselves with “stardust,” labeled and sold as an herbal bath salt, and ended up in the hospital in recent weeks. Stardust contains mephedrone, which has been widely reported on in Europe and banned in some countries. Police say people who have used it report it has similar effects to methamphetamine or other illicit drugs.
Big Willies, a Mandan business, has sold stardust but agreed on Thursday to pull it off shelves after speaking to police about it, Mandan Police Deputy Chief Paul Leingang said.
“If people are going to misuse the product, we’re not going to deal with it,” Ryan Zueger, co-owner of the store, said.
Another product police reported they have encountered recently is called Spark-20. The active ingredient in that, JWH-018, is considered chemically similar to THC, a chemical in marijuana.
Big Willies sells several such “herbal incense” products, as does Discontent. Steven Johnson, manager of Discontent in Bismarck, said his boss told him the business will stop selling the products if the law is changed, as long as all other businesses also have to stop.
“If they want us to stop selling it, we will stop,” Johnson said. He said Discontent has not sold stardust.
Zueger said the substances are sold as aromatherapy products and have been helpful to customers. One man buys it for his son, who has schizophrenia and Spark-20, used as incense, is more effective than prescription drugs. A Dickinson man uses Spark-20 for back pain, considering the incense safer and better for him than high-powered pain killers.
“We sell it as an aromatherapy, and it’s designed to be calming and relaxing,” Zueger said.
He is concerned that the pharmacy board would be jumping the gun by banning the cannabinoids without further research into the positive effects they can have when used correctly. People misuse prescription drugs and other household products, but those substances remain legal, he said.
“You don’t see them taking OxyContin off the shelf,” he said.
Zueger also believes the people who are using such products in ways other than intended are the problem.
“People who are misusing it are actually hurting the people it helps,” he said.
Stenehjem, whose office was involved in drafting the possible emergency rule, said the emergency rule process for scheduling substances has not been used for “a long, long time.” However, he and the pharmacy board felt the substances needed to be addressed prior to the next legislative session.
Stenehjem said the cannabinoid products already could be considered illegal under state law, because the law includes substances of “similar structure” to cannabis. Some states, including Wyoming, already have outlawed the products that way.
“I think perhaps we could interpret it that way,” he said. However, he felt specifically targeting the substances would cover the bases for law enforcement.