As synthetic-drug law evolves, it’s hard to know what’s legal
June 1, 2012 3:20PM
Updated: July 6, 2012 10:26AM
As synthetic-drug law evolves, it’s hard to know what’s legal
I am the owner and operator of Egor’s Tobacco and Gift Shoppe in Carpentersville. There was a news release in the Wednesday Courier-News outlining action taken at my store on Tuesday, May 29, regarding synthetic drugs seized.
Consequently, I am hearing all kinds of chatter about this action. There are people spreading inaccurate “facts” about what was in the store and so on. Please allow me to clarify.
First of all, I want to point out that all of these products were bought from legitimate vendors who have been shipping these products into this state without penalty for years. Their products were accompanied by certified lab reports stating that they contained no chemicals that are banned under Illinois law; therefore, they presumably are legal to sell. I know these products may be controversial, but I believed the companies and their laboratories were being honest, or I would not have had these products. By the way, these products have been sold in most tobacco shops as well as in many gas stations and convenience stores across the country.
The Illinois law regarding these products has been rewritten a few times in the past two years as I understand it. And according to the article in your paper on Tuesday, (Illinois Attorney General) Lisa Madigan’s office says that the new PROPOSED House Bill 5233 would crack down on the sale of these products. It states that the bill is AWAITING final legislative action. In other words, the current law is obviously not clear and the new law is not signed yet.
Finally, as to what happened on Tuesday, I was told by the state and local authorities that they wanted all of these products out of the local stores and that they wanted me to VOLUNTARILY give up the small amount of inventory in my store and agree to stop selling these products in the future, which I did agree to. The entire process was handled by the authorities with dignity and mutual respect.
I only wish that the state of Illinois or any other appropriate authority would have sent out an official notice, as the law evolved, to any and all of the tobacco retailers in the state making clear exactly which of these types of products were prohibited to sell, because I for one would have complied.
Debbie Colbert
Owner, Egor’s Tobacco and Gift Shoppe
Carpentersville
