The District’s police chief could get the authority to temporarily shutter stores — similar to the way she can close bars — as part of the mayor’s plan to curb illegal sales of synthetic marijuana.
Following a rash of synthetic marijuana overdoses reported last week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday she is looking for new ways to eliminate sales of a drug she says can too easily fall into the hands of children. She is looking into drafting new legislation that would create harsher penalties and give the city greater enforcement authority when it comes to cracking down on stores that sell the drug, often better known by nicknames such as K2, Scooby Snax or Spice.
Officials say they hope to model legislation on the emergency authority that Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier has to shut down for 96 hours any bar that is the scene of a violent crime or is thought to be an “imminent danger to the health and welfare of the public.”
“We regard the impact of these synthetic drugs to be just as serious as if we have a liquor seller who is not following the rules,” Ms. Bowser said. “So we are looking to see if the type of emergency authority she has will help us impact this problem.”
The District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) currently has the ability to revoke the business licenses of establishments that sell synthetic drugs, and did so for the first time in February. But the process to revoke a business license, which is referred to the Office of Administrative Hearings, takes time.
Ms. Bowser said she hopes that by granting the police chief greater authority on the matter, problematic businesses will more quickly comply.
“The link between crime and the shutdown is what we are seeking to make,” Ms. Bowser said.
Since revoking the license of a convenience store that operated at a Mobil gas station on Bladensburg Rd. in Northeast in February, DCRA has issued violation notices to four other businesses for selling synthetic marijuana, according to spokesman Matt Orlins.
The revocations come with long-lasting effects for violators. Any licensee who is stripped of a business license under the synthetic marijuana provisions is ineligible to apply for a new license for a similar business for two years.
The Office of the Attorney General is also working to tackle the problem and has taken action against four businesses. Complaints have been filed against three Petworth businesses, and a drug-nuisance case has been filed against the owner of Aida’s Electronics in Bloomingdale.
At least 11 people overdosed Friday and were transported to hospitals after smoking synthetic marijuana near one of the city’s largest homeless shelters.
“We suspect many more cases are going unreported and untreated,” Ms. Bowser said.
While officials declined to speculate what might be fueling the recent spike of overdoses, use of the drug in the District has been on health and law enforcement officials’ radar for years.
A 2013 study by the Office of National Drug Control Policy found that a quarter to a third of young men drug-tested as they passed through the District’s criminal justice system had recently used synthetic marijuana. Experts said the high use rate, specifically among those who screened negative for more conventional illegal drugs, suggested that those under court-ordered monitoring were using synthetics as a way to juke the system.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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