Easley to Consider Synthetic Drug Ordinance

The city of Easley will consider an additional ordinance to ban the sale of bath salts and synthetic marijuana during a special City Council meeting Thursday morning.

On Oct. 24 the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control moved to ban the chemicals used to make bath salts and synthetic marijuana, making the products illegal to be sold in the state. 

The DHEC emergency ban has allowed state and local law enforcement to enforce the law, which requires stores carrying the products to remove them from their shelves without a specific local ban on the substances.

"The DHEC ban is good for 90 days and we've decided to write an ordinance while we wait for the state legislature to come up with a law to ban them, which I think it will," said Chief William Traber.

Traber said before the law went into effect the department had already begun to see problems arise from abuse of the synthetic drugs.

"We had seen several instances where we made arrests where people were under the influence of the drugs," Traber said. "This is really nasty stuff."

Three substances used to make bath salts, mephedrone, methylone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), were banned. Five substances used to make synthetic marijuana were already banned.

Mayor Larry Bagwell said the city's move to pass an ordinance to ban the drugs is in effort to ensure they don't end up back on store shelves.

"What we're trying to do is just put a little more teeth into it," Bagwell said. "If we don't do something soon it could get worse."

Traber said the police department visited all known stores after the ban went into effect to verify the drugs had been pulled from the shelves.

"Since the ban on Oct. 21 we have not made any seizures of bath salts or synthetic marijuana from any individuals," Traber said.

City Council will discuss the local ordinance at 8 a.m. on Thursday in City Council Chambers at City Hall.