Nebraska lawmakers won't vote until next year on whether to ban a legal, marijuana-like substance currently available in some area stores, the chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee said Sunday.
State Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha said that in the current legislative session, a potential ban on the product will take a backseat to major debates over abortion, prenatal care for children of illegal immigrants and the state budget.
“This issue, albeit important, doesn't rise to that level,” Ashford said. “But it is a very important issue.”
The World-Herald revealed Sunday that some Nebraska stores are selling a potent new designer drug that mimics the effects of marijuana when burned and ingested. The drug is a mixture of herbs, produced in China and Korea, that are sprayed with a synthetic compound chemically similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that gives pot users a high.
Marketed under names including K2, Spice and Zohai, the product is available online and at several stores in the Omaha and Lincoln areas. Medical experts and U.S. law enforcement officials fear the product's growing popularity and say the chemicals used could carry health risks.
Ashford wants Nebraska to follow the lead of Kansas, which recently became the first state to make K2 and similar products as illegal as marijuana. Such products are banned in Europe.
“There's so many drugs on the (state's controlled substances list) as it is,” Ashford said. “It would be just very logical to include this K2 drug as part of it.”
Meanwhile, the owner of a Midlands business who said he has sold large quantities of K2 said he supports outlawing the product. He e-mailed Ashford on Sunday, offering his help in passing a legislative ban.
“It could be negligent not to act in a timely manner,” Christian Firoz said in an interview. The Lincoln man is owner of Exotica, which has two stores in Omaha, one in Lincoln and one in Sioux City, Iowa.
But Firoz won't stop selling K2 until it becomes illegal.
“For me to say ‘OK, we are taking it out' would be admitting we had done something illegal,” he said. “There is no reason to not sell it, because it's not being acted upon.”
Firoz said his business markets K2 as a type of incense, and isn't responsible for customers' misuse. A 3-gram packet of K2 costs roughly $65 at one Firoz store.
Firoz said he recognizes the paradox of profiting from a product he wants to ban. He favors quick legislative action as a way to prevent legal disputes such as the one he faced two years ago.
In 2008, Firoz was charged with selling a toxic inhalant — an herb known as Salvia divinorum — in his stores. The plant acts as a mild hallucinogen when eaten or smoked and was legal in Nebraska until 2009. Firoz was acquitted of the charge and no longer sells Salvia.
K2 sales are four times bigger than Salvia sales, he said, though he would not reveal specific figures.
“Very, very popular,” he said. “Let's not talk millions, but if it continues, I wouldn't be surprised.”
This report includes material from the Associated Press
Contact the writer:
444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
