Enforcement officers study new “mojo” law

Local News

July 29, 2010

By David A. Farrell, Item Staff Writer The Picayune Item Picayune Item Thu Jul 29, 2010, 07:23 AM CDT

POPLARVILLE — On Wednesday, Pearl River County sheriff’s deputies were informing other law enforcement officials, including Poplarville and Picayune police, about the new county ordinance adopted on Monday by supervisors, banning the sale and possession of “synthetic cannabinoids,” or what some call mojo.

In addition, the county was preparing to publish a copy of the ordinance in county newspapers to warn users and those who sell the product that county and city law enforcement officials plan shortly to begin enforcing the new law.

“We feel like it is only fair to alert the vendors about what we plan to do,” said Deputy Sheriff Shane Tucker.

“However, after we give adequate notification, we plan to enforce the law. I understand the county is going to publish a copy of the ordinance to inform citizens about the law,” he said. County law enforcement officials and county governing officials gave no specific date on when the law will start being enforced.

Joe Montgomery, attorney for the board of supervisors, said on Wednesday that he was planning to meet with county administrator Adrain Lumpkin to select the dates on which to publish the ordinance in county newspapers. Montgomery drafted the law. He modeled Pearl River County’s law after a law adopted by Ocean Springs.

Pearl River County supervisors on Monday became the third Gulf Coast governing body to ban the substance, called “synthetic marijuana,” by some, and also called mojo, Spice, Triple XXX and Sugar Sticks.

The product is sprayed by manufacturers with synthetic THC. THC is the chemical in naturally grown marijuana that produces the high. Pearl River and Jackson counties, Ocean Springs and, on Tuesday Biloxi, all on the Gulf Coast, have banned the substances.

The products are usually labeled “herbal incense,” and also have a warning on the package, saying “not for human consumption.” However, addicts and users roll “reefers” with it and stuff it into their pipes and smoke it anyway. Investigators say it is three to five times more potent than naturally grown marijuana.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the city of Biloxi also banned what it termed “synthetic marijuana and similar substances” at the request of Biloxi police.

Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said officers will begin enforcing the ban in two weeks, giving time for store owners to take the packages off shelves.

Miller said police officers bought small packages of synthetic marijuana at several stores, paying between $25 and $45 an ounce. A Poplarville police investigator recently told supervisors mojo was selling for $60 for three grams in Pearl River Co.

The new Biloxi ordinance makes it illegal to buy, sell, possess or distribute any similar substances and the maximum penalty is $1,000 and six months in jail.

Pearl River County’s ordinance says violation of the law is punishable as a misdemeanor, and penalties are a $1,000 fine or six months in jail, or both.

Supervisors directed Montgomery on June 21 to draw up an ordinance after Poplarville police investigator Capt. Rossie Creel briefed supervisors on the use and sale of the product in the county. Montgomery presented the board with the finished ordinance on Monday and supervisors immediately adopted it unanimously.

Since the ordinance criminalizes the possession of the products, store owners won’t only have to stop selling it but will also have to dispose of it.

The ordinance is headlined “An ordinance prohibiting the use, purchase, possession, distribution, sale, or offering for sale synthetic cannabinoids or other synthetic chemicals, their salts, somers, homologues, and salts of isomers and homologues . . .”

The ordinance says that the sale and use of the chemicals is “creating an emergency and a serious safety and health issue for the County of Pearl River. . .”

The ordinance lists seven categories of described chemicals that are banned, is signed by all five county supervisors and says its effective date is July 26, last Monday. However, the ordinance makes leeway for chemicals contained in legally prescribed doctors’ prescriptions.

The product is reportedly being sold in some quick stops and tobacco shops in Pearl River County, Poplarville and Picayune.

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