Synthetic Pot Ban To Get First Hearing In Colorado Legislature Wednesday

The Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would ban synthetic marijuana and salvia in the state.

Senate Bill 134, sponsored by Republican Mike Kopp, would define "synthetic cannabinoid" as any synthesized chemical that acts as "a chemical analog or homolog of a compound that has been demonstrated to have binding activity at the cannabinoid receptor."

The bill would add these chemicals, as well as the hallucinogenic plant called salvia, to the "Uniform Controlled Substances Act of 1992" as Schedule I illegal substances.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration recently recently launched a 30-day review process aimed at ultimately placing the drugs--which are marketed at head shops and other stores under product names like "Spice," "K2," "Blaze," and "Red X Dawn"--under the same federal category as heroin and cocaine.

The federal ban, however, is difficult to enforce locally without corresponding state laws.

In January, the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs launched an investigation into 25 cadets suspected of using synthetic marijuana products.

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