Lookout Mountain Judicial Drug Task Force Deputy Commander Patrick Doyle holds two containers of synthetic marijuana. The one on the left goes for $35, while the smaller version is sold for $20, according to Doyle.North Georgia police confiscated thousands of packets of synthetic marijuana last week, and authorities are hoping the state will outlaw the drug altogether.
While state lawmakers banned fake marijuana or spices — also known as K2 — in 2010, manufacturers adapted to the outlawed ingredients and began making a new type of synthetic marijuana that can be sold legally in convenience stores, officials said.
That makes it difficult to regulate the so-called legal drugs, Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force Deputy Cmdr. Patrick Doyle said.
“There’s no control over it,” he said. “Every bit of it needs to be controlled.”
Last week, Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force agents tested packets they bought undercover from a LaFayette, Ga., convenience store and found ingredients that already are illegal in Georgia, Doyle said.