Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – The State Attorney General’s Office plans on taking immediate action against a Syracuse-area head shop.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that he plans to sue multiple head shops throughout New York State as part of a crackdown on bath salts and other synthetic drugs.
The Attorney General's office confirmed that he will request a temporary restraining order to force Syracuse head shop Twisted Headz to stop selling synthetic drugs.
The Attorney General's office noted:
"On an investigative visit to "Twisted Headz" located on 927 North Salina St. in Syracuse, a senior investigator purchased substances labeled "Permagrin" and "White Rhino," products marketed as "potpourri" and both explicitly labeled "NOT MEANT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.
A store clerk then recommended a type of pipe to use in order to achieve the best effect from the substances, which the investigator bought. In addition, the agent purchased a package of "kratom," an extremely potent plant with opiate-like effects, Fly Agaric Mushrooms, a well-known psychedelic, and a charger of nitrous oxide (N2O) paired with a "cracker" and a "balloon," paraphernalia used specifically to break the seal on containers of nitrous oxide, allowing it to be inhaled in a controlled fashion."
Multiple temporary restraining orders have already been issued for head shops in other cities, including GoodFellas Alternative Smoke Shop in Utica and several on Long Island and in Western New York.
Schneiderman says the lawsuits follow an undercover investigation and accuse shops from Buffalo to Long Island of violating New York's labeling laws. Those laws require that products sold to consumers show, among other things, what's in them and where they're made and packed.
In addition to stores in Syracuse and Utica, the Attorney General is suing Walk on the Wild Side II in Watertown, Rolling Fire Glassworks in Binghamton.
Bath salts is a street name referring to a sub-category of synthetic drugs that has been increasingly linked to bizarre and violent incidents in Central New York and beyond.
