A new form of synthetic marijuana has made its way onto store shelves despite an August law that banned previous forms of the drug.
 
House Bill 173, authored by Rep. Ricky Templet, R-Gretna, made it a crime to possess, sell or manufacture the synthetic drug commonly referred to as herbal incense.
 
But manufacturers have found a loophole in the legislation, resulting in new packs of herbal incense and now, more commonly, “aromatic potpourri.”
 
The legislation banned particular chemicals and substances found in the previous synthetic marijuana, but the new products use different sets of chemicals that offer the same results, said Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Jefferson, one of the bill’s sponsors.
 
Henry said HB 173 combined several authors of legislation from across the state that dealt with the same issue, and it focused primarily on chemicals.
 
“We need to find a better mechanism to deal with this. We can’t keep picking chemicals,” he said. “We are currently working with the National Conference of State Legislatures to see what other states are doing to address the problem.”
 
Aromatic potpourri, which typically costs about $20 for a 3-gram package, can be found at head shops and local convenience stores, including the Jubilee Food Store at the Valero gas station on College Drive, with names like “Nola Diamond,” “Purple Flake” and “Voodoo Remix.”  
 
Zachary Robin, psychology sophomore, said he smoked the original herbal incense when it was legal.
 
“I’m strongly against drugs, but I was always curious about the incense,” Robin said. “Once you get into the habit of it, it consumes you. I only casually did it with two of my friends, but then all of a sudden we wanted to do it all the time.”
 
Robin said he doubted anyone would ever actually use the product as real incense.
 
“The people I bought it from never asked me what I was going to do with it. They already knew,” he said. “Plus, none of it smelled good anyway.”
 
Not long after incense was outlawed, aromatic potpourri became available, Robin said.
 
“The same day incense became illegal, [potpourri] hit the streets. It’s basically the same stuff with different names,” he said. “I tried it once, and in my opinion it’s stronger than the old incense.”
 
But Robin said he doesn’t touch the stuff anymore.
 
“The old ones were so bad for your health. People used to get brain tumors from smoking it,” he said. “I can only imagine what this new stuff is going to do.”
Henry said the main problem with these synthetic drugs is that you can’t test for them.
 
“You can get as high as a kite and be completely impaired without anything showing up on a drug test,” he said.
 
Henry said legislators are currently working on a way to test for the chemicals.
 
“Once you can start testing for it, at least you can track it,” he said. “We’ll find a way.”
 
Even if aromatic potpourri becomes illegal, Robin said it won’t be the end of these particular products.
 
“They’ll just make a new one,” he said. “Unless they make marijuana legal, [manufacturers] are going to keep making this stuff.”
 
Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSU Police Department spokesman, said he was unaware of the new potpourri, but LSUPD’s stance remains the same.
 
“We will treat it the same as anything else,” Tabor said. “If that particular substance is not against the law but people are using it [to get high], they’ll be referred to the Dean of Students.”
 
 
 
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Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]