Mother Pickets Aurora Store, Protests Synthetic Marijuana Products

An Aurora mother Saturday  to go after stores she said were guilty of selling poison to local teens.

Karen Dobner gathered with supporters right outside the Cigarettes Hut shop on Aurora's west side to protest its offering of products she called synthetic marijuana. 

For about an hour the group of people carried signs that said "Fake Pot Kills" and "Don't Shop Here." They also loudly chanted the phrases on the signs as well as the phrase "legal isn't safe" as they walked in a circle in front of the store.

Dobner said certain products sold at the store, located in the West Aurora Shopping Center, are legal but known to mimic the effects of marijuana or worse: everything from giddiness and bloodshot eyes to panic attacks, a rapid heart rate or palpitations and hallucinations. They are known as , and are more commonly called "fake weed," according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 

Police officers were at the scene of the protest. At about 12:30 p.m. Saturday police were inside the store, likely to speak with a shop manager or employee. Batavia Patch is not certain if the actual owner was on site at the start of the picketing.

Dobner, when approached by police, asserted her right to be on the property unless the property manager told her to leave. Since no one was able to contact the property manager she and picketers were allowed to remain on site. They left shortly after 1 p.m.

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner was actively part of the protest, holding a sign that said "Fake Pot Kills." State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia was also at the protest. They told Batavia Patch that they support the picket because they are trying to pass legislation to outlaw the products.

Dobner is on a crusade against shops that sell these products because she said her youngest son Max fell victim to its effects. On June 14 Max and a friend similar to the one/similar to those sold in the Cigarettes Hut. After smoking it, she said her son had a panic attack and was in a hallucinatory state from the potpourri. 

Dobner suspects her son was in a panicked state when he got into his car later that afternoon and drove from Aurora to Batavia Township. He crossed an intersection, and died of blunt force trauma.

Check this Patch site later for more on this story.

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