Palmer eyes synthetic drug ban

PALMER — In the wake of Wasilla’s vote to ban the sale of synthetic drugs, the city of Palmer is eyeing a similar ordinance of its own.

“I like how Anchorage and Wasilla have tried to address the situation,” Palmer city councilman Richard Best said Thursday. “I have many of the same concerns like (Wasilla city councilman Brandon) Wall did, that the industry seems to be fast on their feet.”

The ordinance is on Palmer’s agenda for its April 22 meeting.

Best was referring to manufacturers and distributors of synthetic drugs, which are labeled as incense, potpourri, bath salts or other products with all sorts of different brand names. The most well known variant is the synthetic drug known as Spice. Those manufacturers are, in Best’s words, “fast on their feet” because they are able to get around the traditional means of outlawing drugs — outlawing the chemical compounds inside them — by making small tweaks to their chemical makeup.

The Wasilla and Anchorage ordinances instead target the misleading packaging which claim the products aren’t for human consumption when they clearly are. The Wasilla ordinance makes it a $500 fine to sell the products.

The trip to passage of the ordinance in Wasilla was a long and tortured one, including multiple attempts at passage. By the time it got to the council on Monday, it passed on a 5-1 vote.

Kerri Stevens testified about losing her nephew to the drugs. He was living with her at the time, “just barely 18” years old.

“He knew what the stuff was, and he had been warned about it,” she said. But, “In a child’s mind if you can buy it in the store, then it must be safe.

Elizabeth Ripley, executive director of the Mat-Su Health Foundation, also testified in favor of the ban, saying that an increasing number of people were showing up to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center with symptoms stemming from their use of the drugs.

“The Mat-Su Health Foundation board unanimously supports the passage of this ordinance,” she said.

Also on board — Michael Carson, vice president of the MY House youth homelessness outreach organization. He said that compounds that have already been made illegal are considered legally to be in the same category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. The still-legal compounds are substantially similar in their effects.

“We have youth that are buying it and distributing it and making 400 percent profit in Anchorage,” Carson said. “I would hope that we would not want to be the community that is known for supplying Anchorage with Spice.”

The biggest change in the ordinance as it was discussed Monday was to make the ban effective immediately, rather than in a few months. Wasilla Police Chief Gene Belden said it would take two weeks minimum to get his officers trained in how to enforce the new law. In those two weeks they would distribute warning letters to businesses selling the products.

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, who practiced law in the city before he became mayor, addressed concerns about a charge under the ordinance remaining on a person’s criminal record even if it was thrown out in court.

Rupright said the state maintains the court system and the online database.

“I understand your concern. That’s a matter for your legislators,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.