Politics & Government

Law Passed Banning Drug That Caused Kendall Park Man to Eat Grass

A bill that criminalizes the manufacture, sale and possession of synthetic marijuana was signed into law Monday by Gov. Chris Christie.

The possession of fake pot will now carry real charges after a bill banning the manufacture, sale and possession of synthetic marijuana was signed into law Monday by Gov. Chris Christie.

Under the law, producing and selling one or more ounces of synthetic marijuana is now a second-degree crime, and producing or selling less than an ounce is a third-degree crime. The bill also established third- and fourth-degree crimes for possession of synthetic marijuana.

“Synthetic marijuana is ubiquitous and poses dangerous side effects,” said state Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-Somerset, Hunterdon, Mercer and Middlesex). “Fake pot can cause violent seizures, elevated heart rates and death.”

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 which included one of the men eating grass from his lawn, according to police. 

One of the men could not stop moving around his front yard and the other man began to throw up after he ate some grass from the lawn, police said. The Kendall Park First Aid Squad took both men to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for evaluation. 

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Last year, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced a statewide ban on the manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of any of the hundreds of chemicals designed to mimic the effects of marijuana, commonly called “synthetic marijuana,” “K2,” or “Spice.”

Shortly thereafter, South Brunswick Police took part in a 10-day grace period for people to surrender synthetic marijuana to law enforcement without facing criminal charges.

The Attorney General said the number of synthetic marijuana exposures that were reported to poison control centers increased by 139 percent nationwide, and by 711 percent in New Jersey alone between 2010 and 2011.

Of the reported cases in New Jersey, 92 percent resulted in symptoms that required treatment in a healthcare facility. 


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