By Gary Pitts
Paducah, KY – New versions of synthetic marijuana sales may soon be illegal in McCracken County. Kentucky outlawed the sale of many synthetic forms of the drug in July of last year, but new versions have been developed that aren't covered by the previous statute. Assistant McCracken County Attorney Todd Jones has presented two ordinances banning the sale of the new drug form to the Fiscal Court. Both passed the first reading during last night's Fiscal Court meeting. Jones says records of an area ambulance company over a period of just over a month showed serious health issues related to the substances.
"Between July 10 and August 21, there were 17 people between the age of 14 and 40 that were taken to the hospital from overdosing on these chemicals. And those are just the people that called that specific ambulance and reported it."
Jones says there has been no resistance thus far to the new ordinances. He says over the past five months, he has researched the market worldwide to make sure his ordinance covers all chemicals currently used for synthetic marijuana. McCracken is the first county in our region to draft such ordinances to go beyond the state statute banning Synthetic Marijuana.