South Florida

15 Arrested for Selling Synthetic Marijuana: DEA

DEA agents arrested 15 people Friday in raids on South Florida stores suspected of selling synthetic marijuana.

The crackdown in Broward and Palm Beach followed an 8-month investigation into convenience stores that were selling the substances, officials said.

According to DEA acting special agent in charge Kevin Stanfill, the hub for the fake marijuana was a Kwik Stop Food Store on Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach. The suspects ordered chemicals from China and sprayed them on leafy substances like potpourri and sold the packages in stores for $14.

"They targeted toward our youth and toward our young people, they sold it under the counter," Stanfill said. "This is some very, very nasty drugs, this stuff is so bad, I don't know, you could probably use it to kill rats, that's how bad it is."

During the investigation, agents seized synthetic drugs with a total street value of about $360,000, officials said. The DEA said the drug operation used code words.

“So if you came in and you—if they didn’t know you—you just ask, ‘Do you sell spice?’ They would say no, but if you’re a regular customer, if you are referred by someone or came and said a code word, like, ‘Hey a pineapple diablo.’ They would know they could be trusted—not police and they would sell it to you.”

While the DEA did much of the legwork – it’s the Florida Attorney General who came up with the legal tactics to prosecute synthetic drug cases like this one.

“She (Attorney General Pam Bondi) created emergency rules outlawing these synthetics that are being charged here today,” said Juile Chaikin-Hogan. “She did so because she saw substances that were being processed and sold in these stores were endangering the lives of young Floridians.”

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