A man holds a K2 cigarette. Source: AFP
AMERICAN state and city legislators have joined forces to demand that online retailers such as eBay and Craigslist stop selling the dangerous synthetic marijuana known as K2.
“The internet has become a virtual bodega and a chemist’s warehouse,” state Senator Jeff Klein, a Bronx Democrat, said.
“These are things that we can find in grocery stores … around our city, and now you can actually get them delivered to your front door.”
Klein and other politicians sent letters to the CEOs of several internet retailers, asking that they take down ads for the potent substances and “better monitor the classifieds”.
The move comes as the state plans to increase penalties for those selling the items in stores.
“It is a dangerous, unpredictable and illegal substance and for too long unscrupulous stores and online marketplaces have profited,” said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has led the fight to rid K2 from her East Harlem community.
Klein has proposed a bill that would raise the penalties for selling K2 from $723 to $2900 for the first offence, and $7240 for the second.
Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj (D-Bronx) said, “Our city streets are being taken over by zombies from a scene in The Walking Dead. We cannot look the other way.”
This story originally appeared on the NYPost.
Originally published as Synthetic weed leaving streets full of ‘zombies’