By Lucinda Holt
A line of cars wraps around Smokin J’s smoke shop on 50th Street, being served one by one at a moderately fast pace. The building — stark white, with bits of color — carries the skeletal appearance of an old gas station.
The cars pull forward to a drive-up window and hand over cash for a brown paper bag. Its contents can’t be determined but the bags are all similar in size.
The inside of the building is small and cramped and there are makeshift walls constructed of cigarette cases. A clerk can be seen sitting behind one of the walls filling up a small plastic bag using a scale on her desk.
People file in and out. Some speak incoherently. Most have cash in hand. As a customer makes his selection from a homemade menu of “incense” with seductive names such as Zero Gravity and Heaven’s Grass, a young man waits his turn with a blood-soaked bandage wrapped around his wrist. He is smiling and laughing.
He seems oddly excited as he speaks about being the victim of a violent assault at a local motel known by the police for its inhabitants’ notorious drug use. Customers walk in and out without listening to the young man, but he still carries on until it’s his turn.
He holds the cash with his injured hand and with the other makes his selection, Zero Gravity, because he heard, “it’s cheap and it’s good.”
Menu of “incense” for sale at Smokin J’s
Bag of “Zero Gravity”
Even though the sale, possession and use of synthetic cannabinoids is against city law, Lubbock police are not issuing any citations or making any arrests at Smokin J’s, nor are they seizing any of the products.
Citizens plead for City Council to do something
On November 29, 2012, Lubbock City Council heard several citizens make emotional pleas for it to do something about synthetic cannabinoids.
Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson said Gina Johnson was the one who initiated the ban because of her son’s addiction. Mayor Pro Tem Karen Gibson helped Johnson see the issue through, Robertson said.
A city-wide ordinance banning synthetic cannabinoids was subsequently passed, and in the recent months, Johnson took to media outlets to help her son Steven tell his stories about the dangers of this substance and its continued sale.
Steven Johnson told reporters that had it not been for his time in rehab, he would be dead.
On March 9, the citywide ordinance banning synthetic cannabinoids went into effect, and Lubbock patrol units carried out smoke shop sweeps that weekend, which led to seizing thousands of dollars of merchandise and issuing several citations, according to Lt. Jonathan Stewart with the Lubbock Police Department.
But now the police are no longer enforcing the ordinance because of legal problems, primarily with testing for the city-banned substances.
In mid-March, shortly after the synthetic cannabinoid ban went into effect, Mayor Robertson said it was his understanding that adequate testability wasn’t available.
“If we can’t test for it, then we can’t prove in court that it meets the letter of our ordinance, and if we can’t prove that, then I’m afraid we’ve handed these owners a lawsuit against the city,” Robertson said.
“It looks like to me,” he said, “all we’ve done is created another ordinance that we can’t enforce and it’s going to cost the city of Lubbock in defense fees.”
“Passionate people,” Robertson said, “have a tendency to ignore the facts.”
Past enforcement of the ordinance
SmokeHead Shop representative Neil Sinclair said to avoid legal repercussions, all five of his shops were cleared of the banned merchandise the day before the ordinance went into effect.
Sinclair said one of the five shops had merchandise seized.
One employee was issued a citation, Sinclair said, as he expressed his concerns over the new city law’s vagueness. None of the substances confiscated fell under the ordinance, he claimed.
SmokeHead Shop owner Rhonda Hamilton said she is seeking legal action.
Information received from the Lubbock Municipal Court administrator shows 32 citations were filed under the new city ordinance, including three on the trial docket.
Those charged agreed to stringent penalties in order to avoid trial, according to Assistant City Attorney John Grace.
“None of them went to trial, but we did resolve all of them through plea bargaining. As part of the plea bargain, we dismissed the cases against the individual store clerks and refiled those cases against the owners of the business,” he said.
Grace also said that in one instance, testimony from a user resulted in a conviction.
“Municipalities across the country are trying to battle this,” Grace said, “but we have very limited resources of doing that. Really, the enforcement mechanism needs to come under the Texas penal code and not under the city of Lubbock ordinance but we’ll do what we can.”
Problems defining and testing for synthetic cannabinoids
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, synthetic cannabinoids are chemicals that produce a mind-altering effect and are sprayed on dried plant material to give the appearance of marijuana. Often carrying the warning: “not for human consumption,” these products have been able to fly under the radar by being labeled as “incense,” the NIDA website indicates. They are also known on the street as “K-2” and “Spice.”
Lubbock city ordinance Sec. 14.01.010 stipulates it is illegal for anyone to sell, publicly advertise or attempt to sell, give, trade, deliver, possess, ingest, imbibe, or inhale any controlled substance listed under Chapter 481 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, which now includes salvia — a member of the mint family that can produce hallucinogenic effects when ingested.
Assistant City Attorney Grace said he has been working on the city ordinance since its very beginning, assisting in the developmental stages.
“State law prohibited approximately 400 different synthetic compounds,” Grace said. “Our ordinance adopted the ones that were already prohibited by state law and then added to that, I believe, it was four new compounds that were not prohibited in the state law.”
Grace claimed, in apparent contradiction to statements by Lubbock police, that despite some initial problems regarding prosecution and testability, the new city ordinance is still being enforced by the state and local police.
During an interview in the early stages of the synthetic cannabinoid code enforcement, Capt. Greg Stevens with the Lubbock Police Department produced a field test kit that was purchased by the department for official use.
Stevens said later the test kits are no longer in use because they produced false positives.
Marinus Jungbeker, CEO of Florida-based M.M.C America Inc., is the creator behind the test kit.
He said, in a phone interview, it took four to five months to produce the kit, and the company tested the kits on up to 150 synthetic cannabinoid products on the market.
Although he did not test any natural, organic substances that could produce false positvies, Jungbeker said the tests do provide probable cause and he hopes it serves the United States well.
“We are very proud of our kits,” he said, “and we make it very easy for the policemen to use it because they are not chemists. You have to keep it as simple as possible.”
Jungbeker said the company produces as many as 20,000 kits per hour, which are shipped to and used to law enforcement officials worldwide.
Such a test kit obtained by this reporter featured a list of chemical compounds detected by test ampules, along with a color chart. Upon testing, it was discovered that not all of the chemicals banned by the city ordinance are detected by the test, and four chemicals detected by the test are not on the Texas Health and Safety Code ban list.
Synthetic cannabinoid test kit obtained by The Hub
DPS enforcement varies
Sgt. Bryan Witt with the Texas Department of Public Safety said that while the department has more than 10 standards for cannabinoids, the labs are still trying to develop new standards to keep up with the evolving chemical breakdowns.
“Right now we do not test or do analysis on any misdemeanor amounts, but if it’s a felony amount, then we test,” Witt said.
Capt. Stevens with the Lubbock Police Department said four grams is considered a felony amount.
Regarding how the DPS will handle the discovery of possible synthetic cannabinoids, Sgt. Witt said that it is up to the discretion of each trooper and county on how they choose to handle things, but it is going to be dealt with on a stop-by-stop basis.
Sgt. Witt said that although troopers have never obtained test kits, every stop is an investigation.
“If we find that someone is under the influence of synthetics, we’re going to treat them like any other DWI. We’re going to put them through DWI testing. If they’re intoxicated, we’re going to arrest them on that,” he said.
Lubbock city attorney and police disagree
“When you handcuff someone and take them to jail, you are dealing with constitutional issues so you have to be very cautious with that,” Capt. Stevens said in regard to the testability.
As he sat in his tidy office beside a bulletin board with a note reading, “Avoid being risk averse, be risk aware,” Stevens said police operations regarding synthetic cannabinoids are on hold as they await clarification from the legislature.
“The law has to be specific enough to make something illegal. Just because it’s a social ill doesn’t mean we can put people in prison for it. It has to be outlawed,” Stevens said.
The problem they are running into, he said, is that once it gets tested, they find that it is a cannabinoid but not exactly what state law defines.
“It’s extremely expensive for them to obtain what it takes for them to test for a new chemical,” he said, “and you don’t know what new chemical is going to come out next week.
“Right now, do I spend this inordinate amount of money, resources, to test something that is not going to prosecution? Because right now it is not,” he said.
Assistant City Attorney Grace said he disagrees.
“I’m not aware of anyone saying ‘don’t enforce this because we don’t want to spend the money,’” he said.
District Attorney weighs in
When asked about the effect the ordinance has had on the city, Lubbock District Attorney Matt Powell said he has seen changes.
“I think there’s probably been some reduction (in usage). I think it’s probably helped a little bit,” Powell said. “You just can’t go over the counter and buy legally. Obviously, it’s made a dent in the use and the sale of it.”
He said they are not even close to eliminating the problem.
“Folks always find a way to use (synthetic cannabinoids),” Powell said. “Because of the attraction of the high, I don’t know if we’ll ever wipe it out completely. Certainly that’s what we hope for, but I don’t know if that’s a possibility.”
He said he has seen the use of it involved in some of Lubbock’s most recent crimes.
“We have to be certain that we’re dealing with — what we are dealing with — before we get a conviction on a case,” he said regarding prosecution with a lack of accurate testing for these products.
Powell said they have had arrests that have resulted in convictions, some in which the defendant has pleaded guilty, but he said he did not know the numbers of those cases nor could he comment on pending cases.
“If I don’t have a valid test that shows that somebody’s using one of these banned substances, then I can’t prosecute them,” said Powell.
Although test labs have been able to detect certain chemical compounds, he said it remains an evolving process.
Dangers of synthetic cannabinoids
Lubbock Board of Health Chairman Brian Carr, Ph.D., said the best thing citizens can do is to reach out and educate people about the dangers of these substances.
Sage Black, a 22-year-old junior business management major at Texas Tech from Nazareth, Texas, stared at the ground and quietly spoke of his friend who suffered a seizure after smoking incense at a party.
He was taken to the hospital and released after observation, Black said, adding that his friend’s parents never knew.
Carr said he is concerned with mislabeling in packaging. He said while it says, “not for human consumption,” everyone knows what they are using it for.
“When you go to the ER,” Dr. Carr said, “it’s hard to treat you because even with testing, these chemicals are so hard to isolate, they don’t know what you’ve taken.”
“People are going to do whatever they’re going to do. You can’t legislate morality,” said Carr.
He said while Lubbock has a substantial amount of outreach information, Lubbock citizens are not well supported to fight this battle.
Lubbock’s public outreach was defunded several years ago, so something needs to be done at the state level, Carr said.
Personal experience with synthetics
Lubbock resident, 25-year-old Krystal Hedrick, said she and her husband smoked five to six types of synthetic cannabinoid products before the ban went into effect.
Hedrick described the intoxicating effect as a light-headed, out-of-body experience, and while she said it serves its purpose, the risks are a major deterrent.
When asked about how it compares to marijuana, she said it is not the same and that the legalization of marijuana is the only way to put an end to the use and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids.
In an interview shortly after the ordinance went into effect, Eddie Wharff and Mandi Say with the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office said based on what they have seen and heard, these substances won’t last for long.
“I think that once they realize not only are the penalties severe, but that they’re risking their lives every time they ingest it,” Say said, “it won’t be worth it to them and I think that those that use it, will go back to smoking marijuana.”
Wharff said based on what he has learned, synthetic cannabinoids are more like methamphetamines instead of marijuana, which is how these substances are marketed.
“All the indications from people that use synthetic marijuana is the high is a very ugly, bad, not a pleasurable experience,” Wharff said. “So most of the literature that we are reading, is that the people that use the drugs dislike it so much that it is probably not going to catch on.”
And the beat goes on
A customer walked into Smokin J’s without requesting a product, so the clerk recommended a particular incense. Cash was handed over, and no identification was asked for or presented.
Smokin J’s owner Ed Krahmer said identification must be presented at the clerk’s discretion, although the pace of their business makes this problematic.
“If you ask everybody for their ID, especially at the drive-up, then you’ve got a problem,” Krahmer said. “You can’t take care of the customer. You’ve seen how busy it gets in here.”
Customer chatter filled the incense package-littered back office of the smoke shop as Krahmer compared his incense products to alcohol.
“Beer isn’t a great thing,” he said. “Anything that is done too much is bad.”
He said he personally doesn’t drink, nor would he recommend it to his anyone else. He said he also wouldn’t recommend the use of incense to anyone else either.
Krahmer said he is aware of people buying to resell the substances and therefore minors may have access to the products outside of his shops.
Carr said he recalls a different smoke shop owner speaking about the profits the city could make in sales taxes, if incense sales continued.
“I don’t care if it makes millions for the city coffer, it’s blood money,” Carr said.
For him, Krahmer said, synthetic cannabinoids are just like any other mind-altering substances. The only exception, he said, is since they are being used on a smaller scale, more people are likely to protest.
“To me, it’s no different than that, except for the effect it may have on some people, like the guy who shot himself. People react differently — we’re not all happy drunks,” he said.
When asked the suicide he had mentioned, he said that he’s heard of many instances as such, but he has no first-hand knowledge. He said that often times, he hears it from his own customers.
“We’ve heard of people who’ve supposedly did something to themselves or somebody as a result of – but we have no way of verifying whether it is true or not.” Krahmer said, “Most people will miscommunicate, and that’s the problem I have with you even writing this down.”
Customers walked in and out of Smokin J, presenting nothing but cash.
Krahmer said business is doing well despite the ordinance.
“You like having a good business but you don’t like being caught up in these things,” said Krahmer, with a bulk-size box of incense at his feet.
“I didn’t want to lose my business,” Krahmer said.
Editor’s note: The reporter, Lucinda Holt, a Texas Tech journalism student, is married to a Lubbock police officer.
About Lucinda Holt
“If we can’t test for it, then we can’t prove in court that it meets the letter of our ordinance, and if we can’t prove that, then I’m afraid we’ve handed these owners a lawsuit against the city,” Robertson said. This is the biggest lie being told. You can test for it accurately and legally Buy a Tru-Narc; it is a test that you can use to identify it as a Synthetic and give you probable cause for an arrest. It uses DEA’s and Cayman Chemicals Synthetic Library and not an outdated library as the test kits you have now. No wonder your test results are bad with that kit. Someone did not do their homework when looking for reliable testing methods. Either the DA’s Office, Law Enforcement or the City Council is uneducated or is being remiss in their duties in becoming educated. And do not give me that we can’t prosecute it, that is a bogus excuse, yes you can if you do it the right way. But since you choose not to protect the youth of this town I will personally see to it that DEA has every bit of this information. They can make the arrest seize all the assets shut the business down and get a conviction. And the City Council can not collect taxes if they even are on these business, The Police Department will not share in cash and asset seizures and the Da can get on with prosecuting bad checks and DUI’s and the occasional B&E. And yes I do have the contacts to do everything I have just said I will do. And yes the Fed’s can do every bit of this , Just ask Jim Carlson, the owner of The Last Place on Earth in Duluth Minn.
Editor’s note: News reports state that Lance Dyer’s 14-year-old son committed suicide in Georgia in 2012 after smoking synthetic marijuana.
Also, Mayor Glen Robertson said if someone at any government level can define and test these products, he would fully support a partial ban, including tough penalties for those caught selling them to children.
The Hub is looking into the test that Dyer mentioned.
you are my hero.. please keep standing up for the removal of this stuff,, its a killer.. seen it destroy lives..
Mr Kramer you sir… are pathetic … you don’t want to lose your business no matter the costs to our children..it will come back to you.. I promise.. truth know it probably already has…
Well Mr.Krahmer I can attest to the fact personally that these kids are killing themselves with the stuff you are selling to them. My son is dead because of synthetic marijuana. On autopsy no illegal drugs were in his system only your precious money maker synthetic marijuana. I DO NOT KNOW HOW YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT knowing what you are doing to each and every person you sell this trash to in the name of putting money in your pockets. I personally haven’t had much sleep in the last 14 months and 8 days since my son committed suicide. Please get a real job and don’t make another mother on the face of this earth go through the hell of losing their child because of something you know is undefendable except to your own conscience if you even have one. My family will never be the same that I know for sure.
Krahmer is clearly a sociopath. Anyone who spends half an hour doing research will find evidence that synthetic cannabinoids are not only killing people, but causing a long list of physical and mental injuries.
Dr. Ed Krahmer earned a Ph. D before he left academia to open his own business. He is not an idiot. While I wholeheartedly agree that synthetic marijuana is terrible, and that no one should smoke it. I hope that everyone realizes that the moral issue of, “the products I sell, kill people.” is not a new one for Dr. Krahmer. Tobacco is the drug responsible for more deaths than any other drug (legal or otherwise) on this planet.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/
If you are intelligent, you must realize that legal drug alternatives are sold every where. Hobby Lobby sells ornamental poppy pods (for opium). Plastic roses sold at corner stores are used as cheap disposable crack pipes. Banning synthetic marijuana sales in Lubbock will stop nothing. You can order this stuff online for far cheaper than what Dr. Krahmer is selling it for. The solution to people killing themselves with synthetic pot is the same as it was when people were killing themselves with home-distilled alcohol. We, as a society, have to end prohibition. The end. This isn’t even up for debate anymore. I am not advocating the use of any mind altering substance; however, given the choice of having my child smoke synthetic pot, tobacco, or marijuana. I would choose marijuana every time.
I’m not saying it’s right, and definately feel for someone losing a loved one, but….your blaming the store owner and not the people in line, willingly getting thier choice of vice, beer, smokes or other.
I’m sorry for y’all’s losses……I’m an adult and when buying beer or cigarettes at the store I’m carded until my face was recognize day after day and in the article above she says that no one is carded but just like every reporter does is tell parts of the story that will help her get a A+ for her journalism class.. When you turn 18 the newly age adult has the right to buy what they want! I do not agree on synthetic sales. But I also do not agree on the badgering half ace reporters or also hurt people going after one person…when there are shops selling generations back of illegal substances but the reporters always flock where the people are.. This has been my cigarette store for years now and every employee is great and obide by the law enforcement rules. I have seen it in instance that they kick them out and refuse their service because of being incoherent or say legal or other weird names . And I’m not trying to be heartless or disregarding to the above nor you Mrs. Holt
Yeah the reporter may have told only “parts” of the story but at least she is covering what is most important. Nobody cares if “your smoke shop” occasionally refuses service to a customer trying to buy the synthetic because of the behaviors they are presenting. This article may have focused on “your smoke shop” but the whole town knows that there are numerous other smoke shops that have sold their soul to the devil as well. Additionally, nobody wants to hear you covering their butts with excuses– especially not the parents who had to bury their son! You say you are not trying to be heartless, yet you spit that kind of nonsense out of your mouth. Each employee knows that selling the synthetic is part of their job duties just as they know that asking for ID is. That is until it hinders fast service to the customers. It is, no doubt an ethical issue. One that should not be so difficult for many to wrap their heads around, considering we do live in the Bible belt.
Unfortunately, I have had to see exactly what this synthetic crap does to the user. I have twin sons that are 22 years old with families of their own who say that this drug (no matter how it is labeled, it is a drug) has a grip on them that makes them do things they would never do. In the story above, someone compared it to methamphetamine. If only!!! Methamphetamine does not even hold a candle to the synthetic bud in regards to the effect on the users. For starters, how can the 2 drugs be compared when meth makes one go up and synthetic bud makes one go down….way, way down. If a meth user were to stay up for a number of days without eating, then their behavior could be compared to that of a synthetic bud smoker. Examples include: delusional thoughts, non-coherent speech, confusion, hallucinations, inability to stay awake, loss of balance, notably decreased motor skills, and irrational behavior. I am sorry but methamphetamine users do not exhibit any of these characteristics unless they have been without sleep and/or food for a number of days like I mentioned above. However, the initial use of the synthetic bud directly causes all of the characteristics mentioned. My own sons have said that at times the high is rather unpleasant but that will not keep users from purchasing the next bag like someone mentioned in the article above. That is at best, wishful thinking. I wish wishful thinking was enough to save the lives of my sons and the multitudes of others that are at risk every time they burn one! So, for the record, the synthetic “incense” that is so easy to come by is much more closely related to heroin. It is like the zombie apocalypse!! I am sick that it is still available all over town and I will not stop trying to get it completely off the secret shelves in the back rooms of the smoke shops. Have the owners of these places selling it ever heard the popular phrase, ” Money is the root of all evil”? Their greed is more important than human lives. Greed always leads to trouble, no matter which loophole one chooses to reach through!!! Hey smoke shop business owners!! Put that in your pipes and smoke it!!