Supervisor: laws against ‘K2’ not strong enough

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, with State Sen. Michael Venditto, second from right, and Assemblyman Ed Ra, second from left, and other health and local officials outside the Nassau University Medical Center on Aug. 25.

David Weingrad/Herald

Side effects of K2, a street name for synthetic marijuana, include rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation, confusion, and hallucinations. It can also induce seizures and fainting.

• 
• 

State and local officials gathered at the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow on Aug. 25 to call for harsher criminalization laws for the sale and use of K2, a street name for a type of synthetic marijuana that has become a popular recreational drug among young adults in recent years.

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray — a Republican who has held the post since 2003, but is relinquishing it in November as she is currently embarking on a run for Nassau County District Attorney —was joined by Republicans Sen. Michael Venditto and Assemblyman Ed Ra to announce their intention to draft state legislation that would make the sale of K2 carry the same penalties as marijuana sales, and also require drug felons to be routinely tested for it. The elected officials were joined by other local and health officials, including NUMC President Dr. Victor Politi.

Stricter measures to criminalize the drug are needed, Murray said, because use and sale of K2 now is simply a state health code violation “without teeth,” and is “administrative in nature.”

K2, also commonly referred to as “Spice,” is often sold in legal retail outlets as “herbal incense” or “potpourri,” according to the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, adding that it is usually labeled “not for human consumption” to mask its intended purpose and to avoid Food and Drug Administration regulatory oversight of the manufacturing process.

“The drug is cheap, it does not show up on some of the common drug screenings that are currently in use, and the sale of K2 is not a criminal offense,” said Murray.

Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas, a Democrat who is running for re-election this November, criticized Murray two days after the press conference for calling for a law that she said already exists.