Texas lawmaker hopes to ban fake pot

(KXAN) AUSTIN - UPDATE: The bill to ban fake pot in Texas (SB 331) passed the Senate on March 30, 2011.

A Texas State Senator wants to ban fake pot now sold legally in shops all across the state.  Spice is sold under brand names like K2, space and swerve in head shops and even in convenience stores.  It is packaged as an herbal incense, but more and more people are using it to get high.  Even though it is perfectly legal, Central Texas doctors and a former spice user told KXAN Austin News it is not safe at all.

"The word high does not describe what I felt," said a former spice user.  "What I felt was not good.  For lack of a better term, I felt like I was fighting my body."

Seton Southwest Medical Center Emergency Department Director Dr. Laura Waltrip alerted KXAN Austin News to her concern about spice.  She said more young people are showing up in the emergency room who have tried it and get very sick.

Republican Texas State Senator Florence Shapiro from Plano shares that concern and is working on legislation to ban the synthetic marijuana.

"We know they're hallucinating," said State Senator Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.  "We know they're vomiting. They're having severe chest pains. Some of them stopped breathing. There are huge consequences on a drug we know very little about, and it's legal and unregulated."

Senator Shapiro plans to introduce a bill in January that will make the manufacture, sale and possession of spice illegal in Texas.  The bill will target specific synthetic compounds found in spice that make it mimic marijuana.

"We in the legislature have a responsibility to monitor any health risk," said Senator Shapiro.  "That's what we do, and I think that's why we have to look at this and take a very strong approach to banning it."

Seven states and the United States Army have banned the synthetic marijuana.  Cities all over the country have enacted ordinances banning it.  Senator Shapiro said it is important to have a policy against it statewide.

Texas Department of State Health Services tracks Poison Center calls

The Texas Department of State Health Services has been keeping a close eye on spice by tracking the number of people calling the statewide Poison Centers reporting the use of spice, or exposure.

In 2008 when spice first hit the scene in Texas, there were 3 calls of exposure.  In 2009 there were also 3 calls.  When KXAN Austin News first reported this story in May 2010, 36 calls had come into poison centers so far in 2010.  As of July 6th, there have been 98 calls.