05-26-10 South Bend Business Owner Voluntarily Removing K2, Spice & 'Fake Pot'

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.. PRESS CONFERENCE NEW5 RELEASE ~~y 2G, 2010 9:00 ANI 301 North Lafayette,_ South Bend South Bend Cornman Council South Bend Business ®wner Voiuntaril~ Removing K2, Spice & "Fake P®t" .From Their Store Shelves Contact: Council Member Derek D. Diet~~°, Council President 532-2200 or 23S-59c42 Crjutzcil Member Kare~z L. White, Health and Public Safety Chair person 520-4477 or 235-5985 Since the May 19t~' City Council Press Release calling for pro-active measures to limit the availability of K2, Spice and related ``fake marijuana" products from being sold in the City of South Bend, business owners are starting to step up to voluntarily pull such projects from their store shelves. South Bend Council President Derek Dieter and Council Member at Large Karen White, who chairs the Council's Health and Public Safety Committee, met today with the owner of Always Open convenience store, Mr. Goldy Singh, who operates a store located at 301 North Lafayette in South Bend. Mr. Singh has voluntarily removed all products from sale which contain any of the new synthetic marijuana-like products being sold. Mr. Singh has called for other business owners to pull similar products from their store shelves. He credited members of the South Bend Police Department for making him aware of the potential dangers of such using such products. `'Fake marijuana'' products are currently being marketed go under many names---- K2, Spice, Genie, Zohai, Blaze, Red X Dawn, Spice Gold, Spice Diamond, Yucatan Fire, Mr. Smiley- aro just some now on sale. Council Members White and Dieter noted that many other communities are taking emergency measures to ban such sales, since many State Legislatures are not now in session. They are reaching out to business leaders across the city and county to work with them in voluntarily removing these items. They noted: .c~Ith SCl?~Oal SO(311~ f0 hL' Ozlt f0T" ll1L' StLJ91772e]', Otl1" J1pLlth 11%l~~ ~IaVG' 171fJ1'G fL77YL' Ol? 1~~G'11" 11C177L~S. ~dIC~? ~.fClhC n~czrijuana" pt°oducts crre becon~irag increasingly ~opaala~°, cspecr.'crlly czmon~ oic~~ youth. Their h~arr~ifirl side-effects are not well-knvwrz or ~~ublicizeci. As long as these proda~cts remain icnT°egarlcated in Indiaiaca, we must raise away°encss i~z our conarnunity. We rna~st reach nirt since usc~°s of theseprrodtccts could !3e taking significant risks to thernsel~~cs and other°s ". We are calling upn1~ the St..Iose~,~la County Healtda Depcrrtr~aent, our local hospitals, coracesrrcd citizens, barsdr~ess owners cr_rrd school ]eade~s to work with us. " They credited members of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Sr. Men's Club for initially raising awareness about these products. The Council will be reviewing reports from many communities who have passed emergency local legislation, based on the reported health and public safety concerns about these over-the-counter products_ Legislation being studied include St. Charles County, Missouri; Aplena, Missouri; Union, Missouri; Pacific, Missouri; St. Clair, Missouri; and Washington, Missouri. Greenwood, Arkansas; Oakland County, Michigan; Lake Orion, Michigan; are looking into similar local bans. The public is invited to speak out on this growing community issue next Thursday, June 3, 2010 a# 5 p.~xt. at a Council Health & Public Safety Committee scheduled in the Council Chambers in downtown South Bend.