UPDATE: Grieving Mom, Police, Lawmakers Work to Ban Synthetic Marijuana

The small crowd that gathered near the Mooseheart Fieldhouse Tuesday came from many walks of life. Kane County Sheriff’s Office staff mingled with teenagers, who mixed with reporters, who rubbed elbows with state legislators and a local mayor, who chatted with grassroots activists.

All of them came to listen to a grieving mother announce a campaign against the legal, but deadly, drug that .

“This product is being marketed to our kids. It’s simply poison sprayed on leaves that look like marijuana,” said Karen Dobner, whose 19-year-old son Max smoked a compound that gave him heart palpitations and hallucinations, then across from the fieldhouse. “Smoking this stuff is like playing Russian roulette. Our goal to educate parents, health professionals, educators and anyone who will listen about how dangerous it is.”

Dobner has formed a nonprofit foundation, To the Maximus!, to honor her son’s memory as well as keep other young people from suffering his fate. The group’s three-pronged mission is to lobby for legislation banning the sale of synthetic marijuana; publicize its dangers; and shut down the stores that sell it, particularly those that specifically target teen consumers.

Synthetic marijuana, sometimes called “potpourri,” "incense" or “spice,” is any of a group of lab-created chemical compounds that either duplicate the molecular structure of THC, the active chemical in marijuana, or mimic THC’s effects on the human body. Advertisers claim that users can experience a marijuana-like high without risking testing positive for marijuana. Extensive testing of Max Dobner’s blood and tissue revealed the THC-mimicking chemical JWH 210, said Chuck West, Kane County Coroner.

Distributors usually spray the chemicals onto dried flowers or leaves, then package them in one-gram containers decorated with neon colors and bold graphics. Though the packages are labeled “not for human consumption,” they’re along with cigarette papers so that the purchaser can roll his own “potpourri” joints, said Lt. Pat Gengler, Kane County Sheriff's spokesman.

“It’s obviously being marketed as a drug,” Gengler said. “Illegal drugs are packaged in metric units—so is this stuff. Nobody sells real potpourri in one-gram packages.”

Synthetic marijuana can also vary widely in chemical composition and strength.

“It’s worse than regular cannabis,” Gengler stated. “You’d think somebody who’d smoked this stuff was on PCP. That’s more what the symptoms are like.”

The wide variety of chemical compounds that can mimic the effects of marijuana also . 

“We introduced two bills in the House (each targeting a specific compound), and before we could even vote on them 14 new chemical compounds were added to them,” noted State Rep. Kay Hatcher (R-50th). “Every time one compound gets banned, the suppliers just change it a little bit and market it as a new compound.”

While the two bills and their amendments are still active in the Illinois Legislature, Hatcher said lawmakers are considering an omnibus bill that would outlaw all known compounds and all their derivatives. Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner announced at the press conference that the Aurora City Council is working on an ordinance to ban sales of synthetic marijuana in the city. State Rep. Linda Chapa La Via (D-83rd), State Rep. Tim Schmitz (R-49th) and U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-14th) have also pledged to work with To the Maximus, Karen Dobner said.

Meanwhile, To the Maximus will start picketing and boycotting stores that are still selling synthetic marijuana products in late August.

“We have countless tobacco stores, gas stations and other places that are marketing this stuff to our kids. We’re giving them a chance to pull the stuff off their shelves,” Karen Dobner announced. “Then we’ll make surprise visits to see if they’re still selling it. If they are, then we will picket them and start a lengthy boycott even if they pull it off their shelves later. We will cripple your businesses the way your business practices are crippling our youth.”

For more information on To the Maximus, visit its website at www.tothemaximus.org.