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AP: Distributor of synthetic pot-like substance arrested
Published 2/8/2010 in Local News
LAWRENCE (AP) — Authorities have raided a Kansas business that distributes a legal synthetic marijuana and charged the owner with eight felony drug offenses.
The charges Jonathan Sloan, 29, faces in Jefferson County District Court include unlawful manufacturing and distribution of controlled substances, such as mescaline and lysergic acid amide, which is related to LSD.
His business, Bouncing Bears Botanicals, had supplied a Lawrence store called Sacred Journey with a synthetic marijuana known as K2, along with other herbal products.
Both businesses were raided Thursday, and the marijuana-like substance was pulled off the shelves of Sacred Journey. Federal, state and local authorities also seized more than $700,000 in cash from Sloan's business and bank accounts.
Jefferson County Attorney Caleb Stegall said Sloan's arrest followed an investigation of a warehouse facility he owns in Oskaloosa, north of Lawrence.
Sloan's attorney, Scott Gyllenborg, said his client was operating a legitimate botanical plant business.
"These are remedies. These are items used in religious ceremonies that are legal, that can be put to illegal purposes," Gyllenborg said.
Authorities at the scene of the raids said the Food and Drug Administration was in charge of the investigation. An FDA spokesman said the agency does not publicly comment on active investigations.
Melissa Hart, who resigned as Sacred Journey store manager on Friday, said the store was careful to make sure the products it sold complied with state and federal laws.
"We had no knowledge of anything that was illegal," she said.
A preliminary hearing for Sloan is scheduled for April 13.
Although altered herbs sometimes known as "K2" or "Spice" are legal in Kansas, the Legislature is expected to get a bill to Gov. Mark Parkinson this session that would ban the synthetic marijuana.
A bill that won House approval this past week targets two chemicals that are sprayed or sprinkled as a powder on herbs, so that they can be smoked and produce a pot-like high. The Senate's bill is slightly different, and the two chambers must agree on a single version.
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