An ordinance banning illicit synthetic drugs has been introduced to the Soldotna City Council’s agenda for their February 26 meeting.
The ordinance was instigated by the Soldotna Police Department in a letter that states synthetic drugs like spice and bath salts have become more common in the past few years, particularly in juveniles.
According to Soldotna Police Chief Peter Mlynarik, the problem with these drugs is that once one chemical of their make-up becomes banned for human consumption, the manufacturers typically changes that ingredient to something that is not on the banned chemicals list.
Mlynarik: “The state has some laws about certain laws with certain chemicals but they generally change the compound and then in order to prove that you have to send it to a lab to have it tested. So we’re trying to get ahead of this a little bit and try to diminish the possession and sales of this kind of stuff.”
These actions make it hard for the law to keep up with and impossible to create field kits to test for the substances.
The ordinance would ban herbal and/or chemical mixtures that mimic the effects of controlled substances from being imported into, marketed, and sold in the City of Soldotna.
On Monday an almost identical ordinance was failed in Wasilla which mimicked one passed six weeks ago by the Anchorage Assembly.
Public hearing on this ordinance is scheduled for March 26.