Potter County has joined the City of Amarillo and other government entities calling for the State Legislature to make tougher K-2 laws.
Impact Future’s Lavisa Matthews spoke at the Commission. She’s lobbied both State and Federal Legislatures. She says lawmakers "love the fact there is a community organization made up of just your general public and are concerned and willing enough to get their hands dirty and speak up and take a stand."
Synthetic marijuana has reportedly caused injury to young users across the country. Part of the problem, say lawmakers, is the difficulty defining a fixed chemical compound only to have producers change the chemical makeup.
Potter County Commissioner Mercy Muguia says "You’re really looking at chemical compounds and the molecular structure of that, which is not jargon the average person knows, so they’re really trying to analyze it and how it’s written for the future."
Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas says, "Everytime they add a chemical compound to the illegal status, they just take that and tweak it and now it’s legal again."
But Randall County District Attorney James Farren disagrees. He says the law currently on the books is adequate. He has two prosecutions in the works. He says, "We’re more than ready to seize any chemical compound that contains cannabinoid receptors…in Randall County we’re going to arrest you and prosecute you."
