Crime & Safety

Police Department Gets Word Out About Dangers of Synthetic Drugs

The Lake in the Hills Police Department held an informational meeting Tuesday evening at its safety education center, 1109 Crystal Lake Road in Lake in the Hills.

is taking a proactive approach in educating the public on the dangers surrounding synthetic drugs such as K2, Spice and bath salts.

The state of Illinois outlawed specific brands of synthetic drugs, such as K2 and Spice in January 2011 and went a step further to ban all chemicals with “structural derivatives of the previously banned chemicals” in January 2012, according to an Illinois Attorney General press release.

Pete Albanese, DARE officer for the Lake in the Hills Police Department, addressed parents and area residents on what his department has been seeing in LITH regarding synthetic drugs during an informational meeting Tuesday evening at the police department’s safety education center, 1109 Crystal Lake Road.

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Following the initial ban in January 2011, manufacturers of synthetic drugs found ways to change the chemicals and re-package the drugs, which made them technically legal to sell, Albanese said.

“They keep tweaking it because they are making so much money,” he said. “We are talking millions and millions of dollars.”

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The drugs can be potentially deadly. Albanese said there have been reports of LITH teens hallucinating on the drugs and experiencing paranoia.

“One kid believed there were 25 squad cars outside his window,” Albanese said of one LITH report. “Many villages around here don’t even have 25 squad cars.”

K2 and Spice has been packaged similar to incense and sold at tobacco shops and convenience stores. It has similar affects as marijuana and is typically smoked in a pipe. Bath salts are comparable to cocaine and is typically snorted, Albanese said.

“The way they would tweak the drugs, it would end up being 10 times as powerful as marijuana or cocaine,” he said.

Teens and young adults are the primary users of synthetic drugs. The long-term affects of the drugs are not yet known and many drug tests do not detect the synthetic substances.

Compliance Checks, Penalties for Possession

The LITH Police Department conducted compliance checks in recent weeks and found no LITH business selling any of the illegal synthetic drugs.

But, Albanese said, that does not mean the drugs are not available.  The synthetic drugs are readily available over the Internet and could still be available at some businesses.

“We have been on top of it in Lake in the Hills. But it’s still out there,” Albanese said.

Any person found  in possession of K2 or Spice could be charged with a Class 4 felony. Any person selling the synthetic drugs could be charged with a minimum of a Class 2 felony.

In 2010, Poison Control Centers nationwide received 2,915 calls related to synthetic marijuana use, according to an Illinois Attorney General press release. That figured jumped to 6,890 calls in 2011.

Reports of bath salts were made 303 times to Poison Control Centers in 2010. A year later, the centers received 6,072 calls about bath salts.

The Attorney General’s office has organized compliance checks in recent weeks.

An undercover bust in Peoria County on Feb. 22 turned up 683 packages of bath salts and synthetic marijuana. The drugs had an estimated $10,059 street value.

“These operations are intended to put retailers on notice that synthetic drugs are illegal and have no business being sold in Illinois stores,” said Attorney General Madigan in a press release.


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