Grand Terrace Council Adopts Ordinance Against Synthetic Drugs

The Grand Terrace City Council last month approved unanimously the adoption of an ordinance amending Title 9 of the Grand Terrace Municipal Code prohibiting the distribution and sale of certain intoxicating chemicals known as synthetic drugs. Council Member Doug Wilson made the motion and Council Member Jackie Mitchell seconded the motion to approve staff's recommendation to adopt the ordinance; all members of the council voted in support of the recommendation. As presented by then Interim City Manager Carol Jacobs, "the purpose and intent of the ordinance is to provide the city with additional reasonable measures to address the dangers to the community posed by synthetic drugs that are not regulated by state or Federal law, and to define with greater specificity the synthetic drugs prohibited in the city." Some of these "synthetic drugs" that have been identified are psychoactive bath salts and psychoactive herbal incense and other like products. The use of these products has been documented to cause hallucinations, agitation, psychosis, aggression, suicidal and homicidal ideations, cannibalism and death. State and Federal laws and county ordinances prohibit some synthetic drugs, but the makers of these drugs are continually altering the composition of the compounds in their products so as to escape the oversite of these laws and ordinances. Local municipalities are now creating their own regulations to combat this issue, such as this ordinance by Grand Terrace, to assist law enforcement agencies to regulate the usage of these illicit products. The incidental fiscal impact to this ordinance will be forthcoming with the law enforcement agencies' explicit authority to issue administrative citations, as well as commence civil and criminal actions to abate any discovered nuisance. There my be cost recovery mechanisms obtained through the reimbursement for fees and costs spent in abating any nuisances, plus the inclusion of payments made for citations issued.