New tobacco laws intendend to further crack down on Spice

Almost every person by now has heard of the drug Spice, also referred to as “fake weed.” There was a debate about two years ago on whether the drug should be illegal in Utah or not. Individual cities were passing ordinances to make the sale of Spice illegal. Eventually, the Utah legislature made the drug illegal to sell or use throughout the state. The legislature passed a new law this year to not allow anyone under the age of 19 from purchasing tobacco paraphernalia, such as pipes or hookahs. This will prohibit anyone under 19 from entering a store that specializes in tobacco products. The bill was signed by Governor Gary Herbert on March 19th. This bill was passed because some stores have been selling Spice illegally. There is hope this bill will prevent that practice, especially selling to minors. Cops try to stop this drug from being sold. There are usually two ways they go about doing this. Police Agent Chris Kleven says, “To make sure it’s not being sold illegally undercover cops will go and try to buy Spice to see if it is being sold at that store illegally.” Kleven also says if there are reports of it being sold at a store, and if they don’t send an undercover cop to try and buy some, they will just go in and investigate the premises if needed. If a store is caught selling Spice the penalty is the same if they were selling marijuana. The drug is most comparable to marijuana. However, the side effects of Spice vary because it’s usually mixed with a variety of chemicals. There are many cases where people end up going to the emergency room after smoking Spice. In a study done on teens that went to the emergency room they found signs of unexpected behaviors, ranging from agitation and increased sweating to an inability to speak and hallucinations. Other side effects on teens who have used the drug over time are memory loss and psychosis.

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